2009 July | Citizen Dick - a cleveland/brooklyn based music blog, new music reviews, live music reviews, fashion, art, and walrus pelts

Archive for July, 2009

TGIF Hodge Podge – Mazes + Fruit Bats + Jesse Matheson + Jane’s Addiction

Filed Under: General Interest, New Music, The Vault

Jul.31, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Before I say anything else today, I want to apologize for over-hyping last Sunday’s Elvis Perkins performance at Wicker Park Fest. If you were there, you know what I mean. Elvis and the boys all did their thing, no doubt, but the sound people at the festival really dropped the ball and let an otherwise excellent set go completely to waste. The vocals were nonexistent, the guitars weren’t right at all, and the whole thing was generally a mess. I don’t go to an outdoor street festival expecting great sound, but I do expect it to at least be listenable. That’s all for the rant portion of today’s column, but if you are one of the sound people on the north stage last weekend and you are reading this, I have to ask: WTF?

As for this weekend, there isn’t a whole lot going on around town in terms of free live music. The main festivals going down are Retro on Roscoe and Northalsted Market Days. While both are formidable destinations for getting blackout drunk, unless you are into 80’s cover bands and other such garbage neither is going to satisfy your craving for aural pleasure. Your best bet in that department is going to be the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival, which kicks off its inaugural year later this afternoon. Centered at the monument in the heart of Logan Square, the fest sprawls along an enormous chunk of Milwaukee Ave. from California to all the way past Kimball. I can’t imagine that the entire street will be close, but who knows since this is the first time they are putting on the event.

Either way, the highlight of the weekend will be Citizen Dick favorite Mazes playing Sunday at 7pm on the Whistler stage, which I imagine will be set up somewhere near The Whistler (a bar, for those of you not hip to the area). On a side note, if you have never been there for a drink before and you head up this weekend for the festival, I strongly suggest you stop by as they tout some of the best cocktails this side of Violet Hour and at about half the price. Anyways, Mazes excellent self-titled debut has been one of my favorite records of the year since I first laid ears on it back in March and remains on that list today. Their live show is equally good as well, as you may remember from my review of their show at The Hideout several months ago.

Mazes – Cat State Comity

Buy Mazes @ Insound!

Starting out the day is a mini review of the new Fruit Bats record The Ruminant Band, due out this coming Tuesday on Sub Pop. This will be the band’s fourth record overall and their first release since 2005’s Spelled In Bones. A long layoff to be sure, but with Eric D. Johnson having recently joined former label mates The Shins fans should be quite pleased just to have some new Fruit Bats material to enjoy. The first thing that I noticed about this new record is that it marks a return to the more rustic sound of the band’s past, especially when compared to the more polished and poppier sound of their previous album. Having recently expanded to five members, The Fruit Bats rip through eleven new tracks that touch on nearly a dozen different sub-genres of folk, each sprinkled with a touch of the AM Gold qualities the band has come to be known for. From the simplicity of “Tegucigalpa” and “Beautiful Morning Light” to the many layers of “Hobo Girl,” Johnson shows that he is still growing and pushing the envelope musically. “My Unusual Friend” could have been a hit in 1970, while the weepy guitar and eerie melody of “Feather Bed” is a very modern take on traditional southern rock styling. Overall, The Ruminant Band is a hearty reminder that having a new Fruit Bats record to digest is good for the soul and good for music as a whole.

Fruit Bats – The Ruminant Band

Fruit Bats – My Unusual Friend

Buy Fruit Bats @ Insound!

I’m not sure exactly what to say about this next track, other than that it is catchy as hell and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since it hit my inbox. To be honest, I had never heard of Jesse Matheson until earlier this week, but after just a few minutes of research I was able to conclude that he is my kind of guy. I didn’t find a whole lot of biographical information, but according to his MySpace page he is “a singer/songwriter who can eat more flapjacks than you can.” Not only that, but his latest record, called Pleasure Pounds, is all about sex and food, two of my favorite things. The first song on the record, “Make Out,” is all about, well, making out, which seems to be right in line with the theme of the album. Musically the track is a straight up blast, with Jesse getting down on the acoustic to a backdrop of handclaps and hyperactive synths while singing about eating take-out food and kissing women on a Friday night. What can I say, I like the dude’s style. The record is out August 25th on Copperspine Records, so be sure to check it out.

Jesse Matheson – Make Out

Today’s visit to the vault is inspired entirely by the return of HBO’s Entourage. Yes, I know that the new season debuted several weeks ago, but I’ve been busy on Sundays lately and just got around catching up on DVR a few days ago. While the show is something of a guilty pleasure for me, I do get completely sucked in by it can never seem to get enough of Vince and the boys. Part of the attraction for me comes from the kick-ass theme song, Jane’s Addiction’s “Superhero” from their 2003 release Strays. Not to say that “Superhero” is in my personal upper echelon of JA tracks, that list is topped by “Mountain Song,” for the record, but it just works so perfectly in the context of the show. So perfect, in fact, that I now associate it almost exclusively with Entourage. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it is what it is. I even find myself singing it aloud days after watching an episode, often dreaming of the LA lifestyle and warm weather. For a band that embodies Los Angeles perhaps more than any other, I suppose there are worse shows they could be associated with.

Jane’s Addiction – Superhero

Buy Jane’s Addiction @ Insound!

Tags: Copperspine, Fruit Bats, Jane's Addiction, Jesse Matheson, Mazes, Parasol, Sub Pop, TGIF Hodge Podge

The Lovely Feathers – Fantasy of the Lot – Album Review

Filed Under: New Music

Jul.30, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

You know how The Rolling Stones and The Beatles traded identities? The Stones acted like they were working-class hooligans, when in fact they were middle-class private school kids, while The Beatles were legitimately low-rent but played (at least at the front end) into white-collar expectations about youth, class and language. In a vacuum, John would be bloodying Mick’s nose in response to a snobby insult as he (Mick) tried to crawl back to his dad’s Volvo. In 1964, you’d not have sold a lot of people on that argument. To a degree, this myth-making on the part of both bands informs their legacy and the attitude of modern audiences; compare the public personae of McCartney and Richards and consider which one is more likely to call the other a wanker. (Ignore for a minute that this whole discussion makes a ton of assumptions about class. The striving of The Beatles and the slumming of The Stones are fairly stereotypical things to rap about, right? And, certainly, my own hyperbolic treatment of the English working class is a bit broad brushed. Apologies, but it’s all in the service of meandering to a point.) All this to say that image matters in music. The Lovely Feathers clearly understand that and, on their debut sophomore full length, The Fantasy of the Lot, do a good bit of posturing and cultural polishing with, perhaps, an eye towards honing the type of image that might be appealing to a certain stripe of music listener.

The whole thing can kind of be summed up in one single word on one single song. The way that frontman Mark Kupfert sings the word “competence” on “Fad” reeks of a college education. Time was when singers with degrees from art schools would muddy their inflection to sound more rough and tumble. Kupfert sings “competence” (and much of the album’s lyrical content) like an elocution teacher. As an experiment, say the word “competence” right now, naturally. Then say it like you’re Henry Higgins. See the difference? Kupfert is on the Higgins tip. Add in the fact the the band’s bio references their coming together at McGill University and alludes to Vonnegut (kind of ham-handedly, but whatever) and you’ve got an act that either wants to sound like (or actually does sound like) a bunch of dudes with fancy sweaters draped over their shoulders and letters after their names. You might think that my own rather harsh DIY leanings would force me to frown on this sort of thing, remembering that I want bands with dirt under their fingernails and home-recordings in their trunk, but this approach works for The Lovely Feathers. It’s all a lie, right? Dude from Wavves? Just an asshole trying to make a name for himself by doing things that align with what he wants the public to perceive him as. (By the way, there is one “v” in that word, dick.) At least The Lovely Feathers are pushing a slightly more refined image on us.

The record itself is composed of pretty straightforward indie pop with a slight inclination towards stylistic diversity. The songs all have a distinct lilt, but something like “Finder’s Fee” verges on arena rock (in a good way), while a song like “Ossified Homes” leans heavily on snaky guitar lines and multiple part harmonies. Within these confines the Lovely Feathers do a lot of interesting things. The two songs referenced above are both stand-outs, with the kind of catchy hooks that stick in your brain for an afternoon. One constant thread throughout the record is a good bit of keyboard. Dudes are not afraid to 80s things up a bit with some synthesizer riffs that recall Aquanet and teal. Given that this bit of nostalgia is filtered through a fairly rigorous net of irony and distance, that move completely works. The Lovely Feathers also step away from predictability occasionally, notably with the vaguely latin-tinged “Agrotaker.”

Taken as a whole, Fantasy of the Lot is as interesting for its musical content as it is for what it may or may not say about how image and culture influence music and art. I want to spend a night on the town with these fellows. If we’re talking about Sartre while sipping on a really fancy craft beer for six hours, I’m going to be happy as a clam. If we’re at an illegal cock fight or something I might be even happier. If you’re intrigued by the top-drawer single “Lowiza” below, the rest of the album will be worth pursuing when it’s released on August 18. (Also, if you’re Canadian, you already bought this record, as it came out sometime in June up north. Our bad.)

The Lovely Feathers – Lowiza

Score The Lovely Feathers at insound

(Editor’s note: As an added bonus today, you get to read the insane scribblings of a scorned baseball fan. We won’t blame you if you check out early on this one.) In other news, I need to bitch about the Cleveland Indians for a minute. The Tribe traded Cliff Lee yesterday. This is two summers in a row where I get to wave goodbye to the reigning Cy Young award winner while introducing myself to a bunch of prospects who will never be anything special. (No offense, Matt LaPorta.) Cliff Lee might sting more than C.C Sabathia did though. Mark Shapiro got exactly zero (0) of the prospects the Blue Jays wanted for Roy Halladay, which means that either the Blue Jays scouts are idiots or the Tribe got fleeced. I’m leaning towards the latter. And. CLIFF LEE HAD A WHOLE YEAR LEFT ON HIS CONTRACT. The Indians couldn’t have gotten this sack of shitty AA never-will-bes from a contender next July and given me and other diehard fans another 3/4 of a season of a good pitcher every five days? I’m so pissed I don’t get to see this guy pitch anymore. Even though they’ve been out of the race since May, he’s actually fun to watch. Here’s the opening day rotation for 2010: Fausto Carmona (assuming he’s not in rehab or some shit), Jake Westbrook (Tommy John surgery), Anthony Reyes (shoulder surgery), Hector Rondon (never pitched in the bigs) and Aaron Laffey (AAA ace). Great. That staff could win 65 games easily. Do you actively want to see any of those guys pitch ever? So trading Cliff Lee means we’re waving the flag on 2010 as well. Awesome. Thanks for that. I’m never going the see my Cleveland Indians win the World Series.

Tags: Sparks Music, The Lovely Feathers

Medeski Martin & Wood – Radiolarians III – Album Review

Filed Under: New Music

Jul.30, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

(Editor’s note: I’ve alluded to it in the past, but Medeski Martin & Wood are one of my all time favorite acts. One of the first concerts I ever attended featured MMW opening for the late Mark Sandman and Morphine. (I’m a dork; I keep this shit. I have a Toronto Maple Leafs ticket stub from like 1985.) Since then, I’ve been hooked. I love listening to this band when I write, I love seeing them live, I love their talent and their ambition and, in short, I love them. It was a jolt of “I can’t believe this is happening” when we got their new single in the e-mail a few weeks ago and a dose about 100 times that size when we got the whole album. Doing the music blogger thing is sweet for a lot of reasons, but. perhaps principally, it’s pretty cool to be able to hear music before it hits the streets. Getting an advance from a band that taught me about the intricacies of good music is an absolute kick in the pants. Given all of these factors, this won’t be the most critically restrained review. I love MMW (with one tiny caveat that we’ll get to later). I’m going to gush over their new record. Consider yourself warned.)

Discussion on the new Medeski Martin and Wood record, Radiolarians III (more on the series in a minute), should start with album’s killer second track, “Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down.” (No comma there, at least on my copy, which bugs me, but I’m willing to look past it.) The track opens with just over two minutes of impressionistic splatters of piano from John Medeski. (No funky organ here, just straight up piano.) The notes come in bursts, with unexpected pauses, atonality and all sorts of other music school stuff that’s over my head. (It’s no wonder Megafaun loves MMW. That’s my last parenthetical in this paragraph. Promise.) He’ll start to drift towards a tune, then derail quickly with freaky flights all over the keys. Just past two minutes, things start to coalesce, the melody he’s been playing with finally emerges and shit gets funky really quickly. The melody turns into something resembling ragtime, Chris Wood and Billy Martin join in with something resembling a march and then the dirtiest slide guitar ever blasts to the front. (Full disclosure: This thing isn’t in stores until August 4. My copy is digital, so I have no liner notes. I don’t know who’s playing the guitar on this track or if it’s even a guitar. It sure as hell sounds like one, but I wouldn’t put it past John Medeski to do something really ornate to an old organ and fool all of us. Shit, it could even be a wildly distorted Wood bass line. I lied about being done with the parentheticals, by the way.) The slide’s fuzzed out and evil and moves the track through some permutations until everything fades away, leaving a few seconds of bare piano noodling. It is an exceptional track. The things that MMW do really well are all highlighted: super smart musicianship, a willingness to screw around with expectation and time, an ear for the insanely catchy and, above all, high quality. The album is packed with tracks that serve as a reminder that MMW are one of the tightest jazz acts, or acts in general, for that matter, on the planet. Dudes are not messing around.

More fascinating, perhaps, is that the trio is pumping out music of this excellent stripe while tinkering with the way in which records are made. The Radiolarians series is a subversion of the traditional cycle of music distribution, where a band records an album then tours on it to promote. For each of the discs in the Radiolarians series (of which this is the third), the band wrote briefly, toured playing only the material they’d just written and recorded immediately thereafter. Adventurous. Sweet. Full disclosure: the first one of these records came out in September of last year and I completely missed it. 2006′s collaboration with John Scofield kind of struck the wrong note with me, the band didn’t come to Cleveland for a couple of years and, sadly, I lost touch with the band as a fan. I spun Combustication, The Dropper and Tonic as much as I ever did, but I stopped looking for new releases actively. Clearly, my bad. For old-school fans who didn’t feel the jazz guitar thing that Scofield brought to the table, you should be back on board with the new material. It’s MMW the way you remember it from your youth, with a slight bit of maturation and the inventive spirit you’ve come to expect.

The record is loaded down with songs that make me smile. Medeski takes the Hammond to church in “Won Ton.” The band channels the acoustic flavor of Tonic in the album’s opener, “Chantes des Femmes.” Billy Martin’s work on “Kota” is both nuanced and stellar. (Quick side note: some of my all-time favorite live moments involve Billy Martin. I saw him plow through a wild drum solo that concluded with him throwing a tambourine on his snare, which was awesome.) The dark groove of “Broken Mirror” is also a highlight. In general, as with most of MMW’s recorded output, put this thing on and hit play. Not a lot of reason to be skipping around here.

Radiolarians III is available on August 4th. If, like me, you missed out on Radiolarians I and II, you might consider hanging tight until the holiday season, when the band will release a box set with all three albums and some bonus material. (Given that I’ll assume the boys aren’t living on the streets, I’d hate to see you buy it twice, although the record label might disagree with me there.) Medeski Martin and Wood also have a few dates through the fall. As per usual, if they’re close, don’t miss it. “Undone,” which you can hear below has been in this space before, but it’s an uver-representative sample of what to expect from the record. Enjoy.

Medeski Martin & Wood – Undone

As an added bonus, we’ve got the track that I remember MMW closing with that first time I saw them at Cleveland’s Agora. If you “discovered” Medeski Martin and Wood around the same time I did, this will be a welcome bit of nostalgia.

Medeski Martin & Wood – Crosstown Traffic – Live 1996

Snag Medeski Martin & Wood at insound

Tags: Indirecto, Medeski Martin & Wood

Sian Alice Group – Troubled, Shaken Etc. – Album Review

Filed Under: New Music

Jul.29, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Much like seasonal transitions signify the cyclical and unavoidable movement from life to death, a truckload of high yielding wealth and beauty often goes unnoticed during the interim months. The constantly melting snow sends water back to the sea. Trees die and buckle in the hot sun of summer, and the bristling air of fall whips from west to east carrying remnants of harvest. In short, we know when the season’s are shifting, but for many of us, that’s the only time we notice that things are always changing, moving, and spiraling beneath the feet of our daily walking. In much the same way, Sian Alice Group’s upcoming release, Troubled, Shaken Etc. is slippery and doesn’t limit itself to four easily accessible definitions. Things are constantly in motion, taking listeners through a gauntlet of soaring highs and dark lows of sometimes breathtaking beauty and snarling ambient power. Contemplative structures and rich compositions are the band’s forte and for the weakly observant, it’ll at least serve as a dream-catcher to put you to sleep at night. To those with more discerning tastes, this pops off as something that’s entirely dependent upon listener mood. To Ahern, the tracks are deeply important, oftentimes urgent, and for the discerning audience, her journey becomes their own.

At the core root of this release is Sian Alice Ahern’s vocal performance. She’s chameleonic but spookily familiar from track one through thirteen, taking listeners through a myriad of styles and delivery modes. As with Sian Alice Group’s previous release, 59.59, Ahern’s gripping style is omnipresent but never dominant, shifting from far away plaintive wails in tracks like “White” and “Troubled, Shaken Etc.” to grittier and jazzy growls in “Vanishing.” Intricately designed distance and dissonance are laced all over her delivery, to the point of lock, load, and release catharsis. She’s singing to herself through most of the record, and the introversion is mind numbingly startling even on multiple listens. If you’re an indie fan, you’ll no doubt recall the hoopla surrounding the O+S release earlier this year. Both of these albums veer into similar areas, but Sian Alice Group boasts a bit more in the varietal value. She’s not exactly attempting to startle or try something new, but instead lull listeners in a jarring way. The mid-90′s pigeonhole is a dangerous prospect here, because the purposeful slight variations in dissonance and volume are, at times, captivating and don’t allow the decade-planting idea to hold quite enough water. Even if it did, I loved K’s Choice and I’m not going to be a prick about it.

What’s wildly unique is the oddball pairing that Ahern’s delivery holds with the music itself. Mismatched socks still feel pretty good because they’re made with the same fabric, but the seemingly dated vocal deliveries are bridged by an incredibly full-bodied sound of psychedelic synth driven arrangement. There are huge nods to Rupert Clervaux’s knowledge of classical styles. Swirling and frenetic piano arpeggios pepper the record, and the electro-orchestral crescendo in the album’s closer, “Salt Water” point to the fact that this collective knows a bit more about music than you or I. At times, tracks seriously dig into the importance of repetitive entrancement. “Airlock” is an expansive track where nothing is loud, yet everything is still full with sound. Short guitar fills, quiet horns, and softly pulsating synth riffs keep things alive and moving. Things stop and slow, but never stagnate. Industrial hums in “Through Air Over Water” serve as a backdrop, and stop and start instrumentation is in perfect unison with Ahern’s vocals. Three times while writing this review, I found myself nodding off. The swirls and piano arpeggios lull and electrify in many tracks, namely in “Grow Again, Repeat” where largeness and wicked off-kilter soundscapes crawl under your skin.

It’s important not to classify Troubled, Shaken Etc. as retro ambient, however. “Close to the Ground” is a seven minute epic at track four, with angular shifts and changes in both mode and delivery. Hand-shakers are oddly up front and center and tribal infused percussion evokes a galloping horseride. The consistency serves to add to the emphasis on repetition, but also points to a larger understanding of musical composition. Timpanies, bongos, and quirky well-placed synthesizers flourish this song into echoing grandeur. Typically, as with most tracks, it eases out as quietly as it enters. It’s difficult to call the track the album’s peak, but at it’s close, you’re either lulled into the trance or at the very least, intrigued.

We’re well aware that this album isn’t going to be everyone’s bag, but The Social Registry has a definite asset here with Sian Alice group. It’s difficult to pinpoint why the album’s so familiar but also refreshing. I’d argue this album is entirely dependent on mood and connection. Ahern is obviously not abundantly concerned with her audience leaving exhausted. On the other hand, there’s something that lulls and draws the listener in quickly. It’s quite possible that the album’s value will be in it’s emotional connection with listeners. For whatever it’s worth, Ahern’s intelligently designed album is what I seem to need this evening. It hits the shelves on August 4th, but you can pre-order it now through our link.

Sian Alice Group – White

Sian Alice Group – Close to the Ground

Pre-Order Trouble, Shaken Etc. at Insound Now!

Tags: Sian Alice Group, The Social Registry

The Builders and the Butchers – Beachland Tavern – July 27

Filed Under: Live Shows

Jul.28, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

(Editor’s note: Brand new dick Justin absolutely killed his first live review for us yesterday. As such, I’m feeling more than a little bit of performance anxiety. James and Kevin and I have kind of grown up together on the internet and then new guy comes in and shoots his first two posts into the stratosphere. I feel a tad like Candy Maldonado must have felt the first time he saw Manny Ramirez take a few hacks. That said, I’m going to try to step my game up. The Builders and the Butchers absolutely slayed in Cleveland last night and the only way I can start to organize my thoughts on the show is by throwing a bulleted list at you. This might be hacky or gimmicky, but I don’t give a shit. It’s an organizational crutch for me and I’m going to lean on it. Wanna judge? Start your own blog. (On second thought, just flame me out in the comments. And, yes, I went parenthetical inside of parenthetical.))

1. The show was on a Monday in a town the band had never played before. I believe it was the classical poet Bob Geldof who wrote “I don’t like Mondays.” Dude was right. I do the teaching thing, so I’m not really qualified to speak on this matter in the summer, but it seems that peeps are reluctant to shell out dough on a work night. Throw in the fact that The Builders and the Butchers have never made a stop in Cleveland and you might expect a minimalist turnout and a certain lack of enthusiasm. Happily, the crowd at the Beachland last night was both invested and engaged. The floor was shaking, hands were clapping and lyrics were being hollered with wild abandon. You know how we roll in Cleveland: we can be stand-offish, churlish, distant. The Builders and the Butchers had folks hooked from the first note they played. They slammed the foot on the gas for “Devil Town” and didn’t really glance in the rear view for the rest of the night. On record, the inclination is to slap the “alt-folk” label on these fellows. Live, they play like a punk band: full of verve and sass, with stage presence out the ass. Much of the gig seemed like a Friday night in the band’s hometown, rather than a dreary weekday in a place they’d never been. That sort of trick reeks of a wildly acute live act.

2. The Builders and the Butchers are both clever and wildly technical. Robert and I had the chance to rap with mandolin/banjo/vocalist Harvey before the gig. Dude was laying down jokey-jokes like it was open mic night. A sample:

Q: Where’s Engagement, Ohio?

A: Between Marion and Dayton. (rimshot)

This sort of freewheelin’ looseness permeated much of the show. Dudes were not so serious that they were afraid to laugh at the occasional smart ass comment from the crowd, play a plastic panda bear shaker or throw in a bizarre 80s metal tease now and again. That jocularity served to temper the band’s serious musicianship. making them seem both personable and high-flying. (Let’s be honest. You know how Jeff Tweedy rolls? Serious as a heart attack all the time, as in, “this is my art, shut your hole and receive my craft.” That’s off-putting, right?) The Builders and the Butchers both know that they’re talented and have the brass to be cool about it. Maybe the most interesting thing about the band live is that they have two drummers playing (more or less) one kit. This allows for all sorts of wild poly-rhythms and serious dramatic crescendos. It also typifies that the band is not about simplicity. The songs are occasionally direct, but their performance is both nuanced and powerful. It’s the rare act that can replicate studio wizardry live. The Builders and the Butchers hit that one pitch perfect.

3. To a large degree, The Builders and the Butchers are about emotive organicness. (That might well be a neologism. Kiss my ass.) The number of things that the percussionists did on stage was wicked. Dudes had tambourines strapped to their feet and byzantine shakers wrapped around their knees (evidence of the latter, and a melodica is in the photgraph below). This is important. Every time one of them moved, noise happened. Tap a toe, crazy shaker sound. Move a leg, tambourine clang. This sort of thing lent an air of organic spontaneity to the show that was refreshing. Add in the soaring four part harmonies (you know how that kind of thing gets me going) and the band’s willingness to get folks clapping and you’ve got a live act that sounds like a live act. That sounds idiotically redundant, but we’ve all been to shows that are bland regurgitations of recorded material. The Builders and the Butchers throw so many things at the audience that a feeling of authenticity emerges. (Fuck that Hipster Runoff dude. “Autenticity” is a real thing which ought to be strived for.) The show feels like a new creation: people in a room forcing things to emerge from the ether in a collaborative fashion. Powerful stuff. This is why we love music, right?

4. The Builders and the Butchers remind me of bands that are important (and I don’t go to that place often). On songs like “Bottom of the Lake” they sound like Hallowed Ground period Violent Femmes. (Two sidebars: 1. Harvey confirmed that the band knows and loves that record. They used to cover “Country Death Song.” I would have shit a gold brick if they’d broken that out tonight. 2. It takes a lot for me to say that somebody reminds me of the Femmes. I’ve got a vault post brewing on Mr. Gano and the boys, but, suffice it to say, they’ve informed a lot of the way that I think about music.) On songs like “When It Rains” they sound like The Pogues. They lay down a “1,2,3,4,” that would make Shane MacGowan blush. (Think “Wild Cats of Kilkenny” minus the brogue and the flute and you’re in the ballpark.) It’s not a lot of live acts that are going to conjure those two bands to the mind. There were a ton of moments that stood out over the course of the evening, many of which reinforced the notion that The Builders and the Butchers are treading in some very large footprints. “Take the Train” played as a wildly drunken blues track, forcing singing along. “Black Elevator” might be the darkest song I’ve heard in a minute performed with such gusto. This is a band that understands the force of their predecessors and takes the helm gladly.

5. It takes a lot to penetrate my ironic distance, but The Builders and the Butchers gave me legitimate goosebumps this evening. This is really where the rubber meets the road. As the set concluded, Harvey pulled the boys in, mumbled something of importance and then strode of the stage. Frontman Ryan Sollee followed him off and the duo began playing a simple melody at the foot of the bar. (Full dislosure: it’s not a song I recognized, which might mean it’s from their first record with which I am largely unfamiliar. My inclination, however, is that the tune was either a traditional folk song or a hymn of some sort.) The duo encouraged the crowd to clap and sing along with the simple yet powerful refrain: “Find me oh find me, find me oh find me, in the air lord, in the air.” The rest of the band joined Harvey and Ryan with their voices and a tambourine or two. At this point, the crowd was locked in, tent-revival style, clapping and singing with unity and strength. Then the band led the crowd outside. The stout souls still in attendance joined the band on the Collinwood sidewalk and raised their voices to the sky, communing in something real and moving. I’m typing and (I shit you not) I’m welling up. It was a moment I’ll cherish as a music fan and as a human for a good long while. Luckily for you, dear reader, Rob had the prescience to capture the moment on film. Watch it, then hit replay. (To reiterate the idea that the band is the opposite of self-serious, after throwing this nearly spiritual moment at the crowd, Sollee declaims, “Let’s go inside and drink more.”) Good times.

6. If they come anywhere near you and you don’t go, you are going to hate yourself. This one speaks for itself. We’ve seen a ton of good shows in Cleveland this summer, but this one is damn near at the top of the list. The Builders and the Butchers are all over the country in the next month or so and you owe it to yourself to go. If you need more convincing, we’ve got a kicking live cut and another video (“Bottom of the Lake”) below. The rest of the show was as good or better. Worth ten bucks? Indeed.

The Builders and the Buthchers – Spanish Death Song – Live at the Beachland

Oh. And. We get the setlist. That’s just how we roll.

Tags: The Builders and the Butchers

The Octopus Project – Grog Shop – July 26

Filed Under: Interviews, Live Shows, New Music

Jul.27, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

On my walk over to the Grog Shop last night I was still a block or so away when my show partner for the evening texted me that she was waiting outside the venue. She also added that there was a long line. The fact that she beat me there, despite her 40 minute drive versus my own 15 minute walk, wasn’t all that surprising, considering my pre-departure procrastination. The fact that there was a line for a Sunday night show, well, that was another story. She must be exaggerating, I thought.

Minutes later, though, I learned that was not the case – Cleveland’s art school finest had turned out en masse, many carrying with them delectable-looking baked goods. My friend and I greeted one another, shared a shrug at the length of the line, and then made our way back to its end. When we finally got into the venue, after checking in with the door guy, we found The Octopus Project’s Josh Lambert near the merch table and set up a quick interview. As Josh went to find other members of the band, we headed to the debris and hipster-strewn steps outside. Soon Lambert emerged with two of his bandmates, Toto Miranda and Ryan Figg.

Ordinarily, at this point I would mention the instrumentation of each band member. With Austin-based instrumental indie-electronica band The Octopus Project, however, such description is difficult. Indeed, just about every member of the band plays just about every instrument, with switches occurring between (and often during!) every song. Generally, though, Lambert mans the lead guitar on most tracks, Miranda handles drum duties on most, and Figg holds down the bass. Unfortunately, the fourth member of the band, Yvonne Lambert, was unable to join us outside. Though it was disappointing that her voice wasn’t in our conversation, in a backwards way it made my job as scribe easier, as I wouldn’t know where to begin describing her role. Yvonne seems to play every instrument known to man, and some possibly unknown, switching comfortably from synthesizer to glockenspiel to the audience-enthralling theremin.

Even without Yvonne present in our huddle, we faced no shortage of things to discuss, and our conversation with the band moved swiftly through topics including whether their house is really haunted (it isn’t), their collaborative efforts with bands such as … And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead and Black Moth Super Rainbow, their “Visual Music” project of live scoring short films, the band’s tumultuous experience filming a video for their new Golden Beds EP off the coast of hurricane-ravaged Galveston TX, and their role in the diverse and exciting Austin music scene. We also learned that this show was the fifth set the group had played in Cleveland in less than two years, with the three previous shows coming within a single 12 week stretch.

As the members of the band discussed their views toward art and music it became abundantly clear the value each individual placed on diversity and complexity, emphases just as evident in their aforementioned collaborations and multi-media experiments as it was in the sound and spectacle the band brought to the stage. The Octopus Project played among a handful of giant lit bunny rabbit ghosts, with psychedelic cartoons and strange documentary footage projected onto a screen backdrop. Unlike the t-shirts and jeans the fellas were wearing during our pre-show conversation, the men in the group took the stage in shirtsleeves and ties while Yvonne Lambert donned a vintage dress that went perfectly with her adorable short bangs/flipped up in the back haircut.

Immediately the crowd gravitated to the stage and the sound coming from it, and for the next hour the band ripped through a selection of standards from previous albums and a healthy mix of tracks from Golden Beds (which, incidentally, will be released tomorrow). If the crowd response at the Grog Shop is any indication, this new EP should receive an enthusiastic embrace, for while the energy in the room never declined from the set’s start to its conclusion, show-goers were clearly most revved up for the new tunes, particularly “Wet Gold” and “Rorol.”

All four members of the band were hitting on all cylinders, but the sonic diffusion between Yvonne Lambert and Toto Miranda struck me as the single most engaging dynamic. The audience seemed to respond in kind as well, with things reaching fever pitch as Miranda’s drumming became heavier and more frenetic, while their attention became rapt and engrossed, much like a small child being read a nursery tale, whenever Yvonne created magic with her Moog theremin.

Just when you wondered how much more excitement could be wrung out of a crowd late on a Sunday night, the band wrapped things up with an up-beat closer and an immediate encore, including new single “Wood Trumpet.” As the members each said their thank yous to the crowd, Josh Lambert announced that the band would be over “by the merch” if anyone wanted to say hi. As my friend and I headed to the exit, we noticed a new line forming in that back annex, precisely where we had earlier found Josh standing alone. Clearly, The Octopus Project was not going to get out of the Grog Shop any time soon.

The Octopus Project – Wet Gold

Tags: Grog Shop, Peek-a-boo Records, The Octopus Project

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below – Album Review

Filed Under: New Music

Jul.27, 2009

Rating: 8.9/10 (25 votes cast)

edward sharpe album The debut release by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Up From Below, has somehow been both the easiest and the most challenging record I have had to digest in recent memory. As a listener, this album is unadulterated joy – the band’s sound is new yet familiar, and the sound changes enough from track to track to keep one’s attention while widening their smile as the record plays on. For a more critical audience, however, one finds a considerably more difficult task. This is neither a band nor an album easy to peg. Up From Below is not perfect pop, like Camera Obscura’s My Maudlin Career, nor is it literate folk, like The Horse’s Ha Of the Cathmawr Yards (to reference a pair of other albums I have loved this year), though it is certainly has both folk and pop emphases. Neither is the record a simple mixture of the two genres.

Perhaps this explains why most reviews of this album dedicate the bulk of the text to describing, and occasionally slyly condemning, the appearance and perceived throwback ethos of the band’s social dynamic, rather than commenting on the music. There may be some good reason for this focus, though, as the band’s back-story and image make for compelling copy. Led by former Ima Robot frontman Alex Ebert, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros could, at first glance, be mistaken for a 21st Century return of Ken Kesey and his merry band of Pranksters. (Indeed, the band travels in the equivalent of their own Furthur bus and all.)

Critics in Los Angeles, where Ima Robot found its initial success as a party band and the current home base of the Magnetic Zeros, have noted the significant personal evolution of Ebert as he has transitioned from dance-rocker to long-haired “hippie-ster” – a change that has prompted many to fall back on the usual descriptors, all derivations in some form or another of an indie rock messiah. In many ways, the dismissiveness of the journalistic treatment Ebert as an individual has received reminds me of the skeptical profile portraits painted previously of Tim DeLaughter, when he underwent his own transition from frontman of Tripping Daisy to sonic ringmaster and creative driving force behind The Polyphonic Spree.

The DeLaughter/Spree reference is apt, both individually and collectively, as well as stylistically and substantively. Both DeLaughter and Ebert arrived at their rocker incarnations through trial and tribulation, the former with the death of a bandmate and an emotional collapse, the latter via traditional artist struggles with substance abuse. Both hit bottom, found their inner guide, and returned with more artistic energy than before. Both also emerged with central emphases on community, peace, and love – attributes that seem to receive uniformly derisive treatment from the critical sphere, but for which neither individual has done much to indicate anything other than sincere motives and intentions.

As leaders of their respective troupes, both men have produced diverse, highly stylized, anthemic, multi-media opuses that require the heavy lifting of a large number of fellow travelers. While The Polyphonic Spree has been known to crowd a stage with upwards of thirty band-members, Sharpe keeps things relatively parsimonious, with only ten members comprising the Magnetic Zeros.

Musically, however, the LA band exhibits considerably more diversity than the Dallas-based Spree. Throughout Up From Below, the listener’s memory is continually jarred, as obvious and equally disparate influences suggest themselves. From just one recent casual spin, I counted moments inspired by bands as different as I’m From Barcelona, The Hold Steady, Prince, The B-52s, Neil Young, The Bee Gees, Vampire Weekend, Woody Guthrie, and old June Carter-Johnny Cash duets, with some Jesus Christ Superstar thrown in for good measure. The album’s title track could be heard as straightforward Midwestern country, while “Jade” resembles a Mexican folk anthem.

The top singles of the album are more complicated. “Janglin” provides the I’m From Barcelona hint, all bubblegum with its gentle chorus scatting, while the lead vocals might be what you would hear if Joe Strummer had recorded a soundtrack for his niece’s birthday party. Album opener “40 Day Dream” could be from the production a Beatles-themed musical put on by the attendees of the nation’s most secular Unitarian-Universalist summer church camp.

The most noteworthy track on the album must be “Home,” with its June and Johnny refrains. The sound on the song is far more June Carter, while the underlying dark humor clearly emanates from the Cash side. Cornpone pop throughout, listeners could be forgiven for simply chalking this one up to confection. Certainly, lyrics like “Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my ma and pa, but not the way that I do love you” and “Home is wherever I am with you” are sugary sweet, but the brilliance is found in the spoken-word portion of the song, when Ebert recounts a tale to his excusably forgetful partner, the ever-present Jade Castrinos, of the time she fell out the window and almost bled to death while smoking the cigarette she feared to be her last in the back seat, en route to the hospital.

This interaction was my first hint of the darkness that provides the basement of the Edward Sharpe’s structure. The foreboding becomes more evident, though never dominantly so, on the second half of the album, in tracks like “Desert Song”, “Brother,” and “Black Water.” After successive listens, the conceptual underpinnings of the album become clearer. Or, at least, the fact that there are conceptual underpinnings becomes more evident. To truly understand the central narrative of the album, one must view the corresponding series of short films that accompany the tracks, a twelve-part project that combines relatively excellent filmmaking with an incredibly ambitious vision. So far, the band has released only the first of these videos (“Desert Song”), a harrowing seven minutes of desert isolation and despair, and still shots of the forthcoming second installation, which seems to be, visually at least, a cross between The Passion of the Christ and Midnight Express.

As the video project indicates, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros intend to be around for a while, and as they stay and make their presence known, expect more twists and turns to be unpacked, both in terms of sound and story. For those that shudder and have Operation: Mindcrime flashbacks when the phrase “concept album” is uttered, rest assured – there is plenty of stand-alone beauty and fun in this album. But for those of you intrigued by the idea of a new band to get into that combines all of the above influences and themes, it is time for your eyebrows to rise.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – 40 Day Dream

Tags: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Vagrant

Radio Dick – Welcome Aboard Edition

Filed Under: General Interest

Jul.26, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

We’ve been trying to look for a good time to mention some big changes at Citizen Dick, and we decided the weekly Radio Dick feature is as good a time as any. We’ve been experiencing some heavy growing pains in the last couple of months and after we wound down from the madness of our Pitchfork Festival coverage, we decided it was time to expand a little. The nature of our blog, and our ethos, is always simple. We review only material that we love, and we leave the album bashing to other places. If a review makes it onto our site, it means in one way or another that we think it’s worth discussion. In this endeavor, it’s difficult to keep tabs with just me, Brian, and James. So, as we wind down a growing path, we’re excited to announce our expansion. We’re bringing two new folks into the Citizen Dick family, and we’re stoked as hell about it.

Citizen Justin and Citizen Rob are two new additions to our staff. Justin’s our college professor entering the mix, and his musical knowledge and scene awareness is outstanding. He’s been pulled in a lot of directions here in Cleveland and we’re pumped he made the choice to come over and contribute here. In our initial talks, it became apparent that we weren’t his only option. Bringing him on board hopefully juices up our content and adds to our music reviews. He’ll be beginning tomorrow, so make sure to stop in and say hello.

Citizen Rob is another Clevelander and long-time friend of our co-founder, Brian. He’s skilled in all things social media, so it’s an added bonus to bring him into the mix of things as we grow. We’re doing pretty well on our own, but Rob should help us get the word out even more effectively. Likewise, he’s been running our blip.fm feeds since the beginning, and a more formal title gets him more involved. He’s super into obscure music none of us have heard of and his ability to find what’s fresh and new will no doubt be a boon when he contributes to the site. He’s looking to add some reviews to our Vault section over time and will also regularly produce reviews for us.

So, consider this our formal welcome to our added staff here at the Dick. We’re confident in their ability and the three of us (Brian, James, Kevin) handpicked them carefully. While they are trying to get their feet wet, the train rolls on. There’s a lot of big and heavy hitting albums coming out in the coming months, and tracks are getting released like crazy. Some of today’s Radio Dick includes music from upcoming albums, and also some we find super interesting. For example, Friendly Fires cover of Lykke Li’s 2008 jam, “I’m Good, I’m Gone” popped into my email somehow and I found it intriguing, at least. Yo La Tengo released the first single off of their upcoming album earlier this week, and a killer new track from Washed Out was posted by Chris at Gorillavsbear originally and we wanted to share it with you. Electronic pop is usually not our strongest suit, but several tracks toe that line and do it well. The funky Bag Raiders remix is definitely worth a listen, and the Gets The Girl song is definitely pop-folky but impossible to put down.

The rest of the list is pretty typical of what you normally expect around here. Cymbals Eat Guitars performed a new track in a WOXY.com lounge act, and The Thermals just wrapped up another Daytrotter session. Enjoy both of those. The Monsters of Folk super-band that’s bound to cause panic on ticket-sales day has leaked the first track, as well. Stay tuned for upcoming reviews on many of these upcoming albums, and enjoy the bag of songs today. Have a good work week, and say Hi to our new staff!

Monsters of Folk – “Say Please”

The Big Pink – “Dominos”

Yo La Tengo – “Here to Fall”

Marmoset – “Peach Cobbler”

Cymbals Eat Guitars – “Plainclothes” (Live on WOXY.com)

Bag Raiders – “Shooting Stars” (Shazam Dub Mix)

The Dodos – “Fables”

Friendly Fires – “I’m Good, I’m Gone” (Lykke Li Cover)

Washed Out – “Feel it All Around”

Circulatory System – “Overjoyed”

Gets the Girl – “Slow Song”

The Thermals – “I Let it Go” (Daytrotter Session)

Tags: Bag Raiders, Circulatory System, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Friendly Fires, Gets the Girl, Marmoset, Monsters of Folk, Radio Dick, The Big Pink, The Dodos, The Thermals, Washed Out, Yo La Tengo

I’ve got some money, cause I just got Lazy Saturday.

Filed Under: General Interest

Jul.25, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

One of the best parts about writing for a music blog is the occasional disagreements that we get into as a staff. Kevin says something stupid, James calls him out on it, I lob in my two cents and we’re off on a fifteen message e-mail string where everybody is calling everybody else an asshole. If we had the temerity to post one of the more heated of these exchanges, you’d laugh your ass right off. In a recent dispute, wherein I inexplicably confused darling of the scene Ryan Adams with Canadian schlock-meister Bryan Adams, I said that I just got indie-rock douchebaggery confused with Canuckian-douchebaggery. James about lost his mind, accusing me of having no taste and being an idiot and so on and so forth. (In my defense, I was just trying to express that I didn’t want to share a beer with either Adams any time soon, not that Ryan has any lack of credibility or talent. Turns out I was wrong on both counts, as Ryan Adams is, by all accounts, a cool dude to hang out with. My bust. First round’s on me, Mr. Adams.) We sorted things out without coming to blows, but James urged me to go back to Heartbreaker and remind myself of the splendor of high-period Ryan Adams. I did. He was right. The tracks below are my apology to James for slighting his dude, my apology to Ryan Adams for forgetting he’s a genius and a total boon for you on Lazy Saturday.

“Come Pick Me Up” – Ryan Adams, Live 2001

“To Be Young (is to be sad, is to be high)” – Ryan Adams, Live 2001

In other news, today is the 119th anniversary of Max Ernst’s birth. In celebration of the day, we’ve got the Mission of Burma song that celebrates his existence. (“Dada, dada, dada…) We’ve also got L’Ange du Foyer ou le Triomphe du Surréalisme up top. If you represent the Max Ernst estate, we’re using the image because it’s awesome and not for some nefarious copyright infringement purposes. (Editor’s note: This is not Max Ernst’s birthday. That’s actually April 2. We suspect that Brian was just looking for an excuse to post this track. Jerk.)

“Max Ernst” – Mission of Burma, Live 2004

Tags: Lazy Saturday, Mission of Burma, Ryan Adams

The Walkmen + Cass McCombs – Beachland Tavern – Live Review

Filed Under: Live Shows

Jul.24, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Disclaimer: Rob is a new addition to the Citizen Dick family, and he attended this show with me. In a horrible mishap of miscommunication, he thought I’d bring my camera and I thought he’d bring his. This was not good. Unfortunately the few pictures we were able to take were from his Blackberry. We apologize for the really poor quality, and hopefully my words will paint a better picture for you. Rob will be fired if he doesn’t bring it next time. We have no room around here for nonsense. Note my intense sarcasm.

It’s tough to review The Walkmen albums because so many of them have shifted in focus and sound, so I’ll spare you the in-depth analysis of their progression and success. Along with about every blogger on the planet, we included their 2008 release, You & Me on our “Best Of 2008″ list, and for good reason. There’s an unshakable uniqueness and passion to their music paired with a sloppy and drunken fuzz that permeates and allows that passion to bloom. Nothing points this out more than the fact that at the Pitchfork Festival on Sunday, we could hear the band belting out “In the New Year” from all the way over at Stage B while we awaited Japandroids set. The sound at Pitchfork was turned down just enough so it wouldn’t hinder the other performances at the separate stages, but this did not matter in the slightest bit. That forlorn wail erupted through the mid-afternoon air and people even turned their heads away from Stage B to figure out where the voice was coming from. You can only imagine how excited I was to see this in a tiny venue. They shredded last night to a pretty packed house at Beachland Ballroom, and while their set wasn’t exactly too lengthy, a pretty unique and cool night was the result.

Cass McCombs started things off tonight, and although there was endless chatter and mulling about from the audience, it was a pretty good set. The 5-piece on the stage did a pretty stellar job of creating a good atmosphere. The band’s most recent release is getting high marks everywhere, and the interesting conglomeration of folk, rock, psychedelia, and electronica is intriguing to see. At the root, the band is a folk band, but the talent projecting from the speakers is expansive. Low, low bass drives and underriding synthesizers filled the room. The standoffish nature of the band is done on purpose and to a nice effect, as well. Some Clevelanders didn’t quite get it, but it didn’t stop the band from belting out six or seven songs with authority.

The Walkmen set began with some new material on the upcoming album that the band said they’ll be recording in the next couple of weeks. Interestingly the new material seems to be toned down a notch from the previous album, as Hamilton Leithauser picks up the guitar and the smooth horns and slower tempo promises some killer new stuff ahead. I was unable to locate the track titles on some of the new material, but immediately after the opener, they launched into “In the New Year,” and regardless of how much knowledge the audience had about The Walkmen, this song tore the roof off. Of course, there’s no shortage of live versions available of this song on the web, but there’s a wholly different experience when watching it in the confines of a local concert venue. Leithauser goes after it to the highest extent, the intensity rising to the point of spine-chilling effect. In my years of concert-going, I’m uncertain if I’ve ever seen such a cathartic song played live. The song is lyrically purposeful and sincere, and the vocals are for the ages. I questioned the placement of this song in the set-list (like I did at Pichfork) but I’m uncertain my opinion really matters to the band. That’s their gig, and I don’t think anyone who’s been listening to the band for awhile expects anything different.

The next thirteen songs mixed a healthy dose of new material with a lot of You & Me and Bows + Arrows tracks. “Postcards from Tiny Islands” was the third song, with hand shakers, a step away from the upright piano, and loud crescendos of vocal delivery and guitar. What’s important to note about last night, is that the band took the exact structure of the recorded material and simply turned up the volume and intensity in the live versions. I’m not one who frowns upon different versions of my favorite tracks live, but those who are were not disappointed tonight. The horn section was an excellent addition to the already huge sound the band creates, and we’re uncertain if the section tours with them or they were some young bucks pulled off the street to play some trumpet. It was quite hair-raising to have all of these sounds employed on the tiny Beachland stage.

The stage presence of the band is also well-documented and it was a treat to see it live last night. Leithauser lazily holding the microphone while leaning back and hitting every note was something I saw in their opening set for Kings of Leon earlier this year, but the smaller venue allowed the vivacity to pop and wail. In addition, wittier bon mots added to the overall effect. There wasn’t a lot of interaction between the audience and band, but after the first song, Leithauser smirked, “All five of us messed up and forgot an entire part of that song. This rarely happens.” Also, at the close of the show we got a true compliment, as they said, “Thank you all for coming out to see us tonight. It was an um…unexpected delight.” Knowing The Walkmen and understanding how the band operates is important here. I don’t think we could have expected anything better as a compliment here in Cleveland. Well worth it. I’ve posted the basic setlist (minus the new material that I had difficulty locating titles for), along with several tracks from their most recent WOXY lounge act session from May. Enjoy the tunes, and you can hear the entire live set, along with an interview with the band by CLICKING HERE. Get out and see these guys if you haven’t had a chance to. The smaller the venue, the better.

The Walkmen – Postcards from Tiny Islands (Live on WOXY.com)

The Walkmen – On the Water (Live on WOXY.com)

The Walkmen – New Country (Live on WOXY.com)

The Walkmen – Seven Years of Holidays (Live on WOXY.com)

Concert Setlist:

1. Unknown – New Material

2. “In the New Year”

3. “Postcards from Tiny Islands”

4. “Canadian Girl”

5. “The Rat”

6. “Donde Esta La Playa”

7. “Red Moon”

8. “On the Water”

9. “Thinking of a Dram I Had”

10. “Louisiana”

11. “All Hands and the Cook”

12. Unknown – New Material

13. Unknown

14. Encore 1: “New Country

15. Encore 2: “I’m Thinking of a Dream I Had”

Tags: Beachland Ballroom, Cass McCombs, the walkmen

TGIF Hodge Podge – Elvis Perkins + Rain Machine + Atlas Sound + Voxtrot

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Jul.24, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Now that the Pitchfork Music Festival is but a distant memory in our collective rearview mirrors and I am completely settled into the new pad, I can finally get back to using this space for my free music recommendations for the weekend in Chicago. This time around only one festival comes to mind as worthy of a mention, Wicker Park Fest 2009. Sure there are other street festivals going on this weekend, most notably Taste of Lincoln Avenue, but Wicker Park’s is the only one featuring Elvis Perkins In Dearland headlining the main stage on Sunday night. It’s no secret that all of us Dicks are big fans of Mr. Perkins and his latest record, having included it on our first Quarterly Report of the year, and his live show is not one to be missed. Sunday night drinking is always rough, but I suggest throwing some vodka in a thermos, heading over to the corner of North/Damen/Milwaukee, and preparing for a rough morning at the office on Monday. I promise it will be worth it.

Elvis Perkins In Dearland – Shampoo

Buy Elvis Perkins In Dearland @ Insound!

First up today in the “hot new music” department is the second side project of the year from TV on the Radio guitarist and vocalist Kyp Malone. Many of you probably recall that he contributed heavily on Aaron Aites’ Iran album earlier this year, but this new project is purely Kyp. Going by the name Rain Machine, a debut self-titled album is set for a September 22^nd release on Anti-. The sound is self-described as including elements of modern jazz and bluegrass, which does not sound like a far cry from what TVOTR fans will likely be expecting. The first track from the record, “Give Blood,” was unleashed on the blogosphere earlier this week to a host of varying opinions. Personally I love it, probably because it really does sound like a TVOTR track. In fact, If I didn’t know better I could easily see this being a B-side from Return to Cookie Mountain or Dear Science. Opening with a few brief seconds of clanging percussion, the song wastes little time before bursting into an explosion of reverb and warbled vocals. Sandwiching chants, handclaps, and foot stomps between layers of guitar experimentation and funky beats, overall the track is a bit of an aural rollercoaster. Check it for yourself below.

Rain Machine – Give Blood

Next up today is actually another side project featuring a member from another prominent indie band. Brandon Cox, frontman of Deerhunter and possibly the skinniest man alive, has been recording solo material for ages under the guise of Atlas Sound, and his second album under that moniker has been announced for an October 20^th release on Kranky. Titled “Logos, much of the record was inspired by the time Cox spent on tour with Animal Collective in Europe, and the first track was actually a collaborative effort with AC’s Noah Lennox (aka Panda Bear). A bit of a departure from the deeply personal and moody work of Deerhunter and previous Atlas Sound material, the influence of Lennox is apparent in the slightly poppier and more experimental nature of “Walkabout.” Featuring a sample of “What Am I Going To Do” by The Dovers, the aura of the song is warmth and the track washes over you like a wave of calm bliss. Definitely a great tune for impending dog days of summer that lay ahead.

Atlas Sound W/ Noah Lennox – Walkabout

Buy Atlas Sound @ Insound!

My favorite part of these Friday posts is usually the vault portion. With all the new music that floods my ears each week, taking a little stroll down memory lane is something that I always look forward to on Thursday evenings when I actually write this column. This week I was reminded of a band that I had completely forgotten for the last three years until I caught some info on a new 7” that the band is self-releasing in the coming weeks. After bursting onto the scene with a flurry of blogger buzz back in 2005, Austin’s Voxtrot released two stellar EP’s and a somewhat disappointing full-length before falling from the face of the earth sometime in 2007. It’s a real shame that their self-titled LP left a bad taste in the mouths (or ears) of listeners, leading many (myself included) to erase the band from their mental playlists during their extended hiatus. I have no idea why the band took the time off that they did, and I am not even going to speculate on the matter, but I do want to take this opportunity to recall the promise that they showed early on in their career. The Raised By Wolves EP in particular was a masterful little collection of indie pop gems, gleaming with the kind of hooks that Belle and Sebastian would be proud of. The reincarnation of the band seems to have strayed a bit from that formula, following a decidedly 80’s influenced synth pop formula. But the vault is all about the past, so while I look forward to the return of Voxtrot and their evolving sound, today it’s time to kick off the weekend with one of the tracks that rocked my world back in 2005.

Voxtrot – Raised By Wolves

Buy Voxtrot @ Insound!

Tags: ANTI-, Atlas Sound, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Kranky, Kyp Malone, Rain Machine, TGIF Hodge Podge, TV on the Radio, Voxtrot, XL Records

ILAD – Here/There – Album Review

Filed Under: New Music

Jul.23, 2009

Rating: 9.7/10 (3 votes cast)

By this point in my life, I have a pretty good idea of what I like musically and what I don’t. Sometimes, this leads me to have an affinity for records that others dismiss as somewhat repetitive, containing a collection of tracks that are difficult to distinguish from each other. Usually those are the records that I spend a few weeks or sometimes months raving about before they eventually fall off my radar and I move on to something else. While I still appreciate those albums, there is something to be said for diversity and its correlation to the shelf life of an LP. As I sit back now and reflect on all of the records I listened to in 2009 in an attempt to extrapolate my personal favorites, something that many music bloggers and journalists are doing at this point in the year, I find that my list is dominated by albums that kept me on my toes from track to track. These are records that I tout to my friends but am hesitant to give them a track to check out for fear that they will never really understand the entire work unless they hear it all together. This week, after giving multiple spins to ILAD’s upcoming release, the aptly titled Here/There, I have a new record to add near the top of that list.

I originally touched on ILAD nearly three months ago in a random Monday column, where I reviewed the track “Magazine.” I loved the song, but at the time it was the only one I had heard from the album, and in retrospect I realize that I grossly underestimated the band’s talents. If you remember that column (or if you followed the link and read it just now), you will recall that I compared them to a “downtempo version of Crystal Antlers.” No disrespect to Crystal Antlers, because I do still enjoy spinning Tentacles every now and then, but I would like to officially retract that comparison right now. In fact, I am no longer going to compare ILAD to any band that I have heard to this point because their range and diversity separates them from anyone else that I can think of off the top of my head. I’m not saying that they are the best band in the world, but the Richmond, VA quartet is an immensely talented group of musicians and they have crafted a very excellent record in Here/There.

Originally started in 2004 by guitarist Clifton McDaniel and keyboardist Gabe Churray, both students of 20^th century music composition, ILAD was completed with the addition of jazz drummer Scott Clark and salsa bassist Cameron Ralston. Knowing this background information about the members is key to understanding where the distinct sounds originate. The jazz is prevalent throughout the record, as is a broad dispersion of electronica. While there are a fair share of tracks like “Magazine” that feature chaotic bursts of instrumental explosion, there is also a healthy dose that exude a predominantly Americana influence, ranging anywhere from straight folk to all-out honky-tonk at times. While it’s nothing new for a band to meld and even alternate genres on a record, the extremes to which ILAD takes this art is nearly unprecedented. Basically, if Sonic Youth, The Band, and Radiohead had a baby, this is the record that it would one day make, packed with dissonance, psychedelia, twang, and electronic nuance.

Opening with a slow build of electronic rock tunes that culminates with the frenetic “Magazine,” Here/There wastes no time getting down to business with experimental, jazz spiked rock. From there things start to trend more towards the traditional end of the ILAD spectrum, taking a linear shift from the psych-folk “Mexico” to the near rockabilly edge of “Blackgold” before settling into “I Just Stopped By,” which comes off as an Iron & Wine/Postal Service hybrid of electronically tweaked folk. Elsewhere the album twists and jumps in all directions, elevating, suffocating, and tossing the listener about. “Lou Dobbs” is an electronic gem that recalls shades of Radiohead at some moments, while “I’m Not Mean” is a dark, industrial piece with haunting muted vocals. The quiet and stripped “”Everyone Hurts (Everyone)” melts beautifully into “Extraordinary Machine,” which begins with a whisper and goes out as an upbeat pop jam. These nuances are the strengths of the record and they continue throughout, from the hypnotic “Everybody” to the quiet, driving percussive gem “December.” Closer “Church” almost acts as a lullaby, playing the listener out and signaling a fitting end to the aural journey that is Here/There.

Here/There is out on July 28th on the band’s own label, SYJIP Records. Check out “Magazine” and “TV Sutra” below and then watch the video of the band performing “Blackgold” from a balcony in their hometown. As I mentioned, I am hesitant to throw out tracks from such a diverse album, but these three do a pretty good job of showing the amount of ground ILAD is able to cover.

ILAD – Magazine

ILAD – TV Sutra

Tags: ILAD, SYJIP Records

Blitzen Trapper – Pitchfork After Party – Empty Bottle

Filed Under: Live Shows

Jul.23, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

One of the great things we learned quickly about the Pitchfork festival is that the bands do, indeed, enjoy performing music. I grow tired of bands that whip through a quick set and hit the road as quickly as they entered, all with a lackluster attitude and nonchalance that borders on confrontational. It’s an all-round excellent show of passion for a band to set up their stage, perform a 15 song set at 4:00 and load up the gear just to do it all over again that night at a different location. If you’re an avid reader of our site, then you’re undoubtedly aware of our Blitzen Trapper man crushes. When we first began this blog, it was essentially an intense discussion about the merits of their 2007 album, Wild Mountain Nation, and their follow-up, Furr that got the proverbial ball rolling. The differences between the two albums are well-documented, but each record exudes it’s own unique aura and sprawling canvas of western-infused rock electricity. For me, it’s the eclectic and angular first record that is impossible to take off of my pretty hefty album rotation. For many, however, it’s the sentimentality and more structured arrangement of the second that’s appealing. In any event, Blitzen Trapper rolled up their sleeves after a, no doubt, exhausting Pitchfork performance and rocked out The Empty Bottle to a sold-out crowd until the wee hours of the morning Sunday night.

James and I strolled in a little late, on account of a horrible cell phone disaster that left me phoneless and a Chicago cabby about 500 dollars more wealthy. James lives just a couple of blocks from the venue, so the extra encouragement to get our asses down there was pretty easily managed. The electric lemonades we had been pounding at the festival certainly numbed the pain of losing my iPhone, too. Nonetheless, the place was packed immediately, and we came in to the bouncy jam, “Saturday Nite,” that always kills live. In our pretty rude march to the front of the crowd, I heard someone mentioned they hit “Sleepytime in the Western World” first and I was pissed we hadn’t shown up earlier.

One immediate observation, to avoid sounding a little obtuse, was that Eric Earley was having a blast. Usually more introverted and shy, Earley was smiling and chatting back with the audience as they shouted out requests (although James’ repeated screams for “Murder Babe” were probably a little uncalled for). This is a focal point of this review because it honestly has renewed our enjoyment of the band, as the added fame and attention can be a deterrent to audience involvement. To put it bluntly, the fellas put on a show, slamming through much of Wild Mountain Nation and a lot of Furr as well. The most attractive thing about the entire situation is that the band didn’t construct a set-list prior to the show. It was all group huddles and audience participation this night. Super cool.

The band also hit the song, “Texaco,” from their 2003 self-titled album, which reached the ears of the die-hard fans in the Empty Bottle. Throughout this song, Earley danced a bit, joked a bit while playing, and the intimate vibe was stellar. It’s important to mention the other five members of the band, as well. All five were probably tired as hell from the grueling three show 24 hour period, but didn’t show any signs of it. Marty Marquis not only shredded as usual on backing guitars and vocals, but also managed to talk with us a bit after the show. He’s always generous, and always endearing to his fans. Erik Menteer rolled out in the same blue t-shirt he wore at the festival (actually, they all were wearing the same clothes) and slayed on the keys and guitar. He wields a Les Paul bodied-guitar with what looks to be a salvaged neck and he makes it sing throughout. Along with bassist Michael VanPelt, the duo is vastly underscored unfortunately, but anyone with a hint of musical understanding recognizes their importance in the entire sound. If you take out these two, the Blitzen Trapper signature sound goes nowhere fast. Some other highlights included a stomping “Gold for Bread” and “Murder Babe” which we’re fairly certain they played just to appease James, whom they referred to as “Murder Babe Guy” throughout the set.

As the night ended and we tossed back a brew and chatted with Eric and Marty, we realized this was the perfect way to wrap up an excellent weekend of music. Blitzen Trapper is a band we’re going to dig no matter what levels of popularity they achieve, and the Empty Bottle show will stand up there with the other live performances of BT that we’ve seen. If you’re living underneath a rock or in an uninhabited bog somewhere and haven’t heard the band, we’re posting “Texaco” for you (a song that goes way back), and “Gold for Bread,” off of the most recent Sub Pop release, Furr. Get out and see them live on this current tour. You won’t be disappointed.

Blitzen Trapper – Texaco

Blitzen Trapper – Gold For Bread

Tags: Blitzen Trapper, Empty Bottle, Sub Pop

Magnolia Electric Co. – Josephine – Album Review

Filed Under: New Music

Jul.22, 2009

Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

There are a couple of things that are interesting about the new record from Magnolia Electric Co. Principally is the band’s steadfast attachment to a certain sound and ethos. This is best understood as a nearly pure country record; certainly there are moments where the sound diverges towards a rockier place, but this isn’t an “alt-country” album in the way that the term is traditionally understood. It’s a country record. Put this thing out thirty years ago on a Nashville-based label and we’re talking about this band in the same breath as folks like Willie Nelson; a song like “Pretty Paper” would fit right in on Josephine. There’s even a song called “Song For Willie,” and I don’t know of many other prominent Willies past Willie Stargell and these folks aren’t from Pittsburgh. (You know that we shy away from overt comparisons to canonical artists here at Citizen Dick, but this one is inescapable, mostly because I don’t have another go-to country artist to compare this band to. If you’re more steeped in classical country, feel free to bitch slap me in the comments.) There’s a distinct twang in the vocal and instrumental delivery throughout the record and the content has that stereotypically country tint, focusing on loss and longing. The second, potentially more interesting, thing to notice about the record is the songwriting’s decidedly literary bent. The most overt evidence that these dudes read books is that there’s a song named after a Studs Terkel tome. The song “Whip-poor-will” reads like a poem from some long-lost contemporary of the dude who wrote “Tintern Abbey;” it’s impossible to snag a snippet from the lyrics without doing the song an injustice, but I’ll try anyway. (Keep in mind that you’re going to want to soak this one in its entirety as soon as possible. Oh. And. I know that Wordsworth wrote that poem. I was just trying to piss Kevin off.) The lyric that sticks with me: “All of you folks in heaven not to busy ringing the bells, some us down here ain’t doing very well, some of us with our windows open in the Southern Cross Hotel.” Jesus. Hunt down something more liltingly beautiful and deeply poetic on a record this year and I will kiss your ass. Bits of genius like that are scattered all over this album; blend that lyrical flair with its easy-on-the-ears southern vibe and you’ve got a total winner.

Josephine is a bit more than a good record though. In January of last year, the band’s bass player, Evan Farell passed away. The album serves as the band’s memorial to Farell’s memory and, one presumes, a method for dealing with their grief over his loss. (Those looking to do some good with their disposable cash can contribute to a memorial fund for Farell’s wife and sons here.) The fact that the record is a tribute to a lost friend and artist adds a clear layer of depth and sincerity. As mentioned above, these are, largely, songs about loss and loneliness; the place from which they spring is real. There’s a weird kind of duplicity at play here, in that the record is both tragic and deeply enjoyable to listen to; it’s a warm and inviting album that swallows the listener up with its tunes and rhythms. Given that the record is largely influenced by a death, that level of enjoyment can feel a bit odd. I’d argue that a good tribute to Farell is to enjoy the work that’s been influenced by his passing; when David Foster Wallace shuffled off, for instance, I read Infinite Jest cover to cover and loved every page. (Don’t judge me. Id’d read his non-fiction and short stuff before his death.) The same kind of pulling art from tragedy is at work here, I think.

Musically, this thing is packed with songs that are both exquisitely crafted and, shortly, good. Josephine opens with the stellar “O Grace!,” that incorporates an out-of-the-blue horn section that fits perfectly; the song opens with a smooth piano line, brings in some multiple part harmonies for a goose-bump raising chorus and then throws the horns at you almost as an afterthought. They should sound out of place, but they don’t at all. The slide guitar in “Shenandoah” is of particularly high quality, scorching out of the speakers, dripping with emotion. “Song for Willie” has one of my favorite lyrics on the record: “As long as there are sundowns, there will always be a west.” (I’d probably argue with that contention after a beer or two. If the west represents man’s urge to expand into the frontier, tame lawless lands, live unconstrained by overpopulated cities and the like, we’ve probably already eaten all of that up by now. But it’s still a nice sentiment. And that’s probably not how Jason Molina meant it anyway.) We could keep going with this enumeration of the particular strengths of each track, but it’s probably enough to say that there’s not a clunker on Josephine. I’ve been doing a lot of yard work lately and I just hit play on the ipod and let this one go.

Josephine hit stores yesterday and, given its quality and weight, deserves a spot on your shelf. You’re going to have to spit shine your cowboy boots before dropping the needle on this one tough. Wouldn’t hurt to polish your spittoon either.

“Little Sad Eyes” – Magnolia Electric Co.

“Josephine” – Magnolia Electric Co.

Snag Magnolia Electric Co. at insound.

Tags: Magnolia Elecric Co., Secretly Canadian

Pitchfork Coverage – The Flaming Lips

Filed Under: General Interest, Live Shows

Jul.21, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

The Flaming Lips wrapped up our weekend in Union Park on Sunday evening with the legendary Oklahoma City rockers closing the festival down with a much anticipated set. Crowds began camping out and securing their spots in front of the Aluminum Stage as early as 2pm just to be near thew front for the spectacle, and hardcore fans in costumes were spotted throughout the park all day long (my favorite duo was the guy in the gorilla suit with his girlfriend dressed as a banana). As a fan, The Flaming Lips are a long time favorite of mine thanks to my discovery of The Soft Bulletin many years ago, so under normal circumstances I probably would have been one of those folks camping out at the stage myself, but thanks to our photo pass I was able to show up about an hour before the set and secure a primo location and a coveted spot in the photo pit.

The downfall of heading to the Lips stage early was that we were forced to watch Grizzly Bear from afar as we jostled for position at the front of the orange and yellow stage backed by an enormous video screen. Thankfully the crowd was quiet and the sound was louder than it was earlier in the day, which allowed us to hear their set fairly clearly from the opposite end of the field. We were fortunate enough to meet up with some new blogger pals from Culture Bully as we made our way over and ended up taking in the entire set with them (On a side note, they are good people and if you aren’t reading their site you probably should be). In true Flaming Lips fashion, the band made a grand entrance to the stage as their set was slated to begin, with everyone but Wayne emerging from a door in the video screen and seemingly walking out of the giant white vagina that was displayed. As the rest of the band took their places on the stage, Wayne finally appeared as the signature bubble appeared from below the stage with him inside. Confetti erupted, balloons were launched, synthesizers howled, and the circus had officially began to the delight of thousands of screaming fans.

As Wayne returned to the stage and emerged from the bubble, the set, which was part of the “Write the Night” series in which fans were able to vote for the setlist, kicked off with The Soft Bulletin‘s classic opener “Race For The Pize.” From there the set was an eclectic mix of new songs, old favorites, and a few rarities that the band almost never performs. Despite the “Write the Night” theme, Wayne and co put their own spin on the set by reading the results of the vote from a scroll of songs and denoting their place in the order. For “Silver Trembling Hands,” a new track from the upcoming album Embryonic, Wayne mounted a roadie dressed in a gorilla costume, something that would have been unexpected for any band other than the Lips. They also played another new song from that record, “Convinced of the Hex.” Hits were out in abundance, as would be expected in a request heavy performance, with the band jamming through classics like “Fight Test,” “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song,” and breaking out a stripped down and slowed down rendition of “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots.” The best moments of the set, however, were the rare gems that many fans have never seen performed live like “Bad Days” from he Batman soundtrack, the oaring “Mountainside” from 1990′s In A Priest Driven Ambulance, and, perhaps most notable, “Enthusiasm for Life Defeats Existential Fear” from the documentary film The Fearless Freaks (or that one, Wayne promised “this will be the only time we ever play this song.”).

For all of the idiosyncrasies of the set, the end was both predictable and fitting, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. With time running out on their set, Wayne was down to three songs on his list and only time for two of them. Knowing that they would close with the most requested track, he asked the crowd “Do you want to hear “W.A.N.D.” or do you want to hear “Jelly”?” The choice was overwhelming and they launched immediately into the classic Jon Stewart introduction that kicks off every live performance of “She Don’t Use Jelly” and the crown erupted into a frenzy. The final and most requested song of the night was “Do You Realize,” and I can’t imagine a better way to put the 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival to bed for good. With lyrics like “it’s hard to make the good things last,” I left Union Park already counting down the days until next years event, with confetti in my hair and a big smile on my face.

The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Part 1 (Live on Sound Opinions)

Buy The Flaming Lips @ Insound!

Tags: Pitchfork Festival, The Flaming Lips

Pitchfork Coverage – Japandroids

Filed Under: General Interest, Live Shows

Jul.21, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Japandroids were at the center of one of our biggest Pitchfork dilemmas of the weekend (the other involved Wavves and Yeasayer, and we ended up regretting our decision on that one), playing at the same time as Walkmen late on Sunday afternoon. It didn’t take a lot of discussion to settle on Japandroids, and luckily this time we absolutely made the right call. We made no secret of our affection for their debut album, Post-Nothing, which we REVIEWED just a few short weeks ago, and their live set did not betray our lofty expectations. One of our favorite things about their studio material, the duo’s no-nonsense attitude and straight forward style, came through from the moment they took the stage. Singer/guitarist Brian King immediately addressed the crown promising witty banter and plenty of rock and delivered on both accounts. Performing with the drum kit turned sideways at the front of the stage ala Black Keys, King and drummer Brian Prowse turned in a high-octane set of anthemic rock free of any type of frills or pretense. With an industrial fan strategically positioned below the microphone stand, the gusting winds that blew King’s hair all about only added to the arena feel of the set and combined with the thunderous aural assault to make me feel like I was catching them at a packed Wembley Stadium rather than on a side stage at a festival. Unfortunately I can’t provide you with any details of the setlist because I was busy rocking out like a mad man, which should give you a pretty good idea what the overall experience was like.

Japandroids – Young Hearts Spark Fire

Buy Japandroids @ Insound

Tags: Japandroids, Pitchfork Festival, Polyvinyl

Pitchfork Coverage – The Thermals

Filed Under: General Interest, Live Shows

Jul.21, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

After our Blitzen Trapper update yesterday, our day was too filled with music to get back to the press tent with more coverage, so now after a day of rest and recovery we’re back to round out our festival coverage starting with The Thermals. After starting out their set with a raucous cover of Sonic Youth’s “100%,” the trio launched into a series of tracks from their latest record, Now We Can See (REVIEW HERE), including a Citizen Dick favorite “I Let It Go.” Later in the set, however, the covers took over once again, with the band belting out four of them before their day was done. A flawless rendition of the obscure Nirvana tune “Sappy” appeared about midway through, followed later by The Breeders’ track “Saints” before eventually launching into a crowd pleasing performance of the Green Day classic “Basket Case.” The covers made this one of my favorite sets of the weekend and made for a memorable festival set. It’s refreshing to see a band completely let loose and have some fun on stage rather than mailing in a handful of cuts from their latest record in an attempt to sell a few extra copies. For that I say “Kudos to you, Thermals.” A sentiment that I’m sure the rest of the fans who watched their set would almost unanimously agree with.

The Thermals – A Pillar Of Salt

Buy The Thermals @ Insound!

Tags: Kill Rock Stars, Pitchfork Festival, The Thermals

Dick Perks – Cursive Tickets – July 29th @ Grog Shop

Filed Under: Live Shows

Jul.20, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

You know Cursive. They’ve been pumping out albums from Omaha since 1997 including this year’s top-drawer Mama, I’m Swollen. You’ve got at least one of those records on your shelf (if you’re me, the one you keep going back to is 2003′s The Ugly Organ and its lush arrangements. Bizarre side note: after the last Cursive track in my itunes, Cut Off Your Hands comes on, launching right into the freakish 80s pop fascination of “Happy as Can Be.” Weird transition.) Cursive has been on the road for a good while promoting the record and have dates through mid-August on this side of the Mississippi. We’ve got two tickets to their July 29th stop at Cleveland’s beautiful and historic Grog Shop. We’d like to give them to you.

Here’s what to do:

Compose an essay not more than 1000 words long detailing your merits as a fan of both Cursive is particular and live music in specific.
Gather not less than three references who can speak to your quality as a concert-goer. (Obviously, no family. Don’t include anybody you sleep with either. We’re looking for an objective opinion on your work.) Solicit a detailed recommendation letter from each individual. Have each letter notarized.
Write an analytical essay comparing the lyrical content of a recent Cursive record to the work of a French author of your choice. (Obviously, Balzac is excluded. We’ve read that paper enough times.)
Film a short conceptual piece that imagines how the narrator in a Cursive song of your choice defines his/her epistemological and/or ontological frameworks.
Place the above four (4) pieces in a standard manila envelope and hand-deliver directly to me. (You have to figure out my last name and address on your own or just catch me out on the town. Good luck.)

If that proves to complicated, the alternative method for entry is as follows:

Send me an e-mail.
Tell me you’d like the tickets.

Regardless of how you choose to enter (if it was me, I’d go with method two; it makes both of our lives easier), your entry must be received at Citizen Dick world headquarters by midnight on July 26th. We will select an entry at random and notify the winner on the 27th. To sum up: CURSIVE TICKET GIVEAWAY. JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL.

Good luck. (Added bonus: two Cursive tracks follow to get you super stoked to enter.)

“Mama, I’m Swollen” – Cursive

“The Recluse” – Cursive

Tags: Cursive

Pitchfork Coverage – Blitzen Trapper

Filed Under: General Interest, Live Shows

Jul.19, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Frightened Rabbit kicked off our day today, but Blitzen Trapper was the early set that we had circled on our calendar for the last month. After opening with Wild Mountain Nation, which was a surprising yet effective choice, the Portland boys laid down a Furr-heavy set that had the masses who had been camping out in front of the stage rocking throughout the action packed 45 minute set. Somehow the guys managed to cram in thirteen songs, including a jammed out rendition of “Gold for Bread,” which was the highlight for me. ”Sleepytime in the Western World” was a crown pleaser, as was the much anticipated performance of their breakthrough hit “Furr.” As a fan I was hoping for a lot more material from Wild Mountain Nation, but this tight little set was perfect for the setting and has us ready for their late show this evening at Empty Bottle. Check out the full setlist below as well as a whole bunch of pictures. We’re keeping this recap brief so that we can go catch Women on the B stage, but expect a lot more things Trapper tomorrow with coverage of the aforementioned after party.

SETLIST

WMN

God and Suicide

Sleepytime in the Western World

Saturday Nite

Gold for Bread

Long Arm of the Sun

Love U

Furr

Lady on the Water

Black River Killer

Big Black Bird

Fire and Fast Bullets

Blitzen Trapper – Gold for Bread

Blitzen Trapper – Furr

Tags: Blitzen Trapper, Pitchfork Festival, Sub Pop

Radio Dick – We Ain’t Got Much Time Edition

Filed Under: General Interest

Jul.19, 2009

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Somewhere between my arrival in Chicago on Friday and my departure on Monday morning, traditions and normalcy have some place on our blog. While I’d like to pretend superhuman ability, and that I somehow managed to see thirty bands play, travel across three states, secure housesitters for Jolene, my cat, and manage to keep my ears peeled for emerging music, I know that isn’t quite the truth. Radio Dick is a weekly thing here, and even in the midst of all the festivities, there’s a time and place to dial it back and make sure business is attended to. This week’s Radio Dick is a bit abbreviated, but should be a welcome respite, sandwiched between a lot of press coverage this weekend.

So since our dicks are all out spreading their seed all over Chicago this weekend, here’s a big load of tracks we’ve been spinning when we’ve had some time to breath. Stay tuned throughout the week for full recap coverage of Pitchfork Music Festival, some reviews of stellar albums, and all things music related. If you’re visiting for the first time, welcome aboard. I’d like to write more, but I’ve got some recovering to do. Have an excellent work week, folks, and enjoy this week’s playlist.

The Almighty Defenders – Bow Down and Die

Jay Reatard – Wounded

Mason Proper – Love Lockdown Gets Innocuous (Kanye West vs. LCD Soundsystem)

Firs – Welcome Home

Lay Low – Last Time Around

Kings of Convenience – Mrs. Cold

Simian Mobile Disco – Audacity of Huge (Naum Gabo Remix)

All Tiny Creatures – Stockhauxen

Elephant Stone – I Am Blind

The Clientele – I Wonder Who We Are