Tag Archive: TGIF Hodge Podge


Some of you may have noticed that we added a new feature to the site recently in the form of a page that allows readers to submit their own tracks for review. We added this in hopes of uncovering even more new music for our readers that we may not have otherwise found through our more traditional means of acquiring tunes. Over the last few weeks we have been very pleasantly surprised by the amount and (in most cases, at least) quality of tracks that have been shuffling in via our new toy. A few of them have already been featured here in the pages of Citizen Dick, but in an attempt to encourage more submissions and to acknowledge the one that we have already received I am dedicating today’s column exclusively to reader submissions. Most of these artists are so under the radar that they barely even exist, so as tastemakers it is our duty to give them the exposure that they deserve. Of course, I am writing this while sitting in a coffee shop on the Lower East Side that happens to to be spinning Grizzly Bear’s seminal Yellow House, and while most of these tracks are not quite on that level they are certainly worth a few minutes of your time. So enjoy!

First up is a band(?) called Caretaker. From what I can surmise from the artist’s MySpace page, it appears to be the work of one man who goes by the name of Jason Kane. That is him over there to the left, the one who looks a little bit like Charles Manson (that’s a good thing, in case you were wondering). We actually received a couple tracks from Mr. Kane, but the one that I am featuring here is called “Peoples’ Say,” an eclectic, retro-sounding number with a little bit of edge to it. The vibe reminds me a bit of Richard Swift with a little more less weirdness. There’s quite a bit going on here for just one guy, though I’m not sure if there were any other musicians involved or how the track was produced. Big, orchestral percussion, some Santana-esque guitar strumming, a little bit of twang, a hint of what sounds like an organ, and a whole lot of AM Radio style mellow. Hopefully we will get word from the man himself for a bit more insight on the track, but all you really need to know is that it sounds great. Unfortunately the dude doesn’t have much info on his page and he has only three friends at the moment, so I can’t tell you where to purchase any of his music or where you may be able to catch him live. I suggest shooting him a message if you are interested and letting him know that you heard it here on Citizen Dick. And maybe throw a friend request his way while you’re at it.

Caretaker – Peoples’ Say

Next up is a track from an Argentinean artist by the name of Ezequiel Claverie, who records under the name Ezequiel Ezequiel. According to the message accompanying the submission, this track (and, I assume, the others on his current EP) was recorded in his home studio in London, where he now resides. The song below, called “Raise the Dead,” is a delicate and somewhat breathy tune sure to appeal to fans of Sam Beam, Bon Iver, and, if you have been following my previous recommendations, Barzin. The production quality is quite good for a home recording, and the arrangements and melodies show a lot of promise. Like our last artist, Ezequiel could use some more friends on MySpace, so be sure to hit him up there as well (he only has 30 friends at the moment). In addition to his presence on everyone’s favorite dying social media platform, Ezequiel Ezequiel also has his own website, so click the link and navigate on over. There isn’t a whole lot of info to be found, but if you are feeling this track you should definitely check it out because you can stream it there along with four others. And you can even download the entire EP for free, which is nice.

Ezequiel Ezequiel – Raise The Dead

The last submission of the day definitely skews a bit poppier than the first two, but it is Friday after all so we can all use something just a little more twee to brighten up our day. And know that when I say twee, I mean it in the nicest possible way. The band is called Early Ghost, and if the track that I have been listening to is any indication, their sound reminds me of a slightly more mature rendition of The Boy Least Likely To. The track that we received is called “Witch in the Cherry Tree” and as you may imagine from my description, it is not nearly as ominous as the title makes it sound. It is actually a beautiful pop gem that features (what sounds like) a toy piano and contains just enough sugary-sweetness to draw you in without pushing you away. Not to turn this whole day into a PSA for MySpace, but this is another artist in desperate need of friends, as they, like Caretaker, currently have only three of them. And yes, one of them is Tom. In fact, there aren’t even any photos on their page and Google wasn’t much help in that department either. As such, I took it into my own hands to accompany this post with the first result that came up in a Google image search for “Early Ghost.” Because, you know, we like visuals around here. What you see to the left is not in any way official or related to the band, as far as I know anyway, but it is a drawing titled “Early Ghost” from an artist named Hector G Romero. And it’s actually pretty cool. Personally, I think they should use this as the cover art for their next record and give me a shout out in the liner notes. I’ll check with Hector and the guys in the band and let you know how that turns out. For now, just enjoy the track and have a great weekend.

Early Ghost – Witch In The Cherry Tree

It’s been a long time since I last wrote one of these Friday columns, and I was debating whether or not to start it back up again after such a long absence, but I figured this might break up the monotony of our Singles Club installments. And who knows, maybe some of you even missed this format (or my contributions to the site). In case anyone wonders where I have been these past few months, I don’t really have much of an explanation other than a little bit of stress and a whole lot of lethargy. I was living between Chicago and New York for the past several months and am finally in Brooklyn full-time now, so expect a refresh of the site to indicate that in the near (I hope) future. And most likely a whole lot more live reviews since I no longer have to worry about what city I will be in on the night of a given show. Anyway, now that the two readers who cared where I have been lately are up to speed let’s see if I still remember how to write an actual post.

I caught wind of this first band just yesterday via a friend’s post on Facebook, if you can believe it. Anyone who says that status updates are useless can suck it, because after a single listen I was absolutely obsessed with the track I am sharing here today. The Middle East is actually a quintet from Australia, making the bands’ name either highly ironic or completely oblivious to geography. In any event, their press release hails the group as one Australia’s strongest bands. Personally I am not entirely familiar with the music scene down under, nor am I inclined to believe everything that I read, but I can tell you that what I have heard is excellent and they are definitely a much stronger band than Men at Work (or, more recently, Jet or Wolfmother). The track I have been listening to, “Blood,” is a beautiful tale of a woman’s struggle with cancer. Musically, Brooklyn Vegan has compared the sound to “Iron &Wine, Fleet Foxes, Nick Drake and Bon Iver,” which pretty much hits the nail right on the head. The folky melodies and earnest songwriting provide a perfect compliment to the catchy chants and subtle horns throughout the hook, making this one of those songs that you find yourself absent-mindedly humming for hours after you hear it.

The Middle East – Blood

The second track of the day is from Boy Genius, a band I originally wrote about in one of my last TGIF Hodge Podge posts back in early October. Rather than paraphrasing my original summary of the group’s history, I will simply refer you back to that original entry if you are interested in that type of thing. Not straying far from the formula of the last track I posted (“Old New England”), “Blame Love” is a poppy number that is just restrained enough to avoid coming off as overly sweet or twee. As someone who spends most of his time listening to some pretty depressing shit, this provides a welcome change to my usual routine in a way that is far more tolerable that the garbage that bands like Vampire Weekend are pumping out. For the record, I am typically put off by any band that is described as “indie pop,” mainly because the genre in and of itself is something of an oxymoron. The label is normally applied to either a pop band trying to maintain some semblance of street cred or an indie band trying to appeal to the mainstream. Neither of those is anything that interests me, but somehow Boy Genius manages to pull off the genre without skewing too far toward either side. “Blame Love” is a polished, upbeat number ripe with hooks, yet it doesn’t sound like anything you might hear on FM radio nor is it so inaccessible that it might suck. This track, along with “Old New England,” will be on the band’s upcoming album Staggering, which will be released on the 26th of this month via Greenpop Recordings.

Boy Genius – Blame Love

I need to start out today by apologizing for leaving you all without a Hodge Podge to wake up to last week. I know how much many of you look forward to our time together on Friday mornings, and I feel terrible about leaving you hanging. The only excuse I have to offer is that I accidentally got drunk and passed out. Poor planning on my part, but I always say that if you’re going to make excuses it’s best that they revolve around alcohol. Better to be drunk than lazy, or something like that…

Laminated Cat Band

The first band up today caught my eye the moment that they appeared in my inbox, which is really saying something given the amount of e-mails that I get on a daily basis. The subject line of this particular message noted that the band, Laminated Cats, was referred to bay Apples in Stereo leader Robert Schneider (unfortunate name in hindsight, given the theatrical turds that the actor of the same name has dropped on us) as “the best young psychedelic band in years.” As an unabashed fan of everything that has ever spawned from the Elephant 6 crew, my interest was obviously peaked immediately. A cursory listen to the linked track has me even more excited. Opening with an alt-countrish riff, “Aquamarine” quickly takes form with buzzing atmospheric synths and space age blips that recall The Flaming Lips at times. Throughout the track maintains an eerily monotone sound that is both soothing and uneasy all at once, shifting from cohesive to disastrous at times with uncanny easy. Their debut record, Umbrella Weather, is the second release from Schneider’s own label, Garden Gate Records, and dropped this past Tuesday so you can buy it, like, now.

Laminated Cat – Aquamarine

Buy Laminated Cat @ Insound!

Boy Genius Band

This next track is from an album that doesn’t come out until January 2010, which literally seems like an eternity from now, but I came across it yesterday and it was love at first listen. Boy Genius is a Brooklyn quartet that originally began life as a duo in 2006. Now, three years later and with two additional members, they are preparing to release their second record, Staggering, with producer Mitch Easter (who has worked with, among others, Pavement and Dinosaur Jr). Though I admittedly have no knowledge of their back catalog, after spending a few days with their latest track “Old New England” I can’t help but think that this band deserves far more coverage than they have received thus far. Though I have heard them classified primarily as indie pop, I find the sound to be far more reminiscent of 90’s garage. This new track in particular is hazy, beautiful, and sounds absolutely timeless. And if this tune alone isn’t enough to get you on the bandwagon, consider the fact that the upcoming album was conceived to be two distinct sides of a record, each with its own unique sound and stories. As such, the LP is slated for a vinyl-only release when it eventually drops, with a digital download included for those occasions when you can’t bring your turntable with you.

Boy Genius – Old New England

Buy Boy Genius @ Insound!

Soul Asylum

Today’s vault track is actually something that I had intended to post last week in this space, you know, before I got drunk and flaked out on the post entirely. A few weekends ago I unexpectedly found myself at a Soul Asylum show here in Chicago. I realize that it isn’t every day that you wake up in the morning with no intention of seeing a Soul Asylum concert and then later find yourself attending one, but I assure you that this is indeed what happened. I left my house that morning with the intention of watching the Buckeye game at that bar, doing my best to choke down a few brews in my massively hung over state, and then heading home immediately after. Anyone who has ever indulged in gratuitous day drinking, however, knows that in these instances things rarely go as planned. Long story short, I never did make it home that night and several drinks later I found myself at the Roscoe Village Oyster Festival. Curiously I didn’t see any oysters, but I did manage to eat some lamb on a stick and watch Dave Pirner and co throw down a set that made me feel like I was back in high school again. Keep in mind that I’ve never been what you might call a ‘fan’ of Soul Asylum, nor would I pay any denomination of American currency to see them, but I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised with their set on that Saturday evening. Classics like “Black Gold” and “Misery” stood out as tracks that I must have grossly underrated in my youth, though the rest was admittedly quite average. In any event, I haven’t been able to get “Misery” out of my head since I heard it that night, so going with the misery loves company approach (pun intended), I thought I might feel a bit better if shared it with all of you today. So enjoy and have a great weekend!

Soul Asylum – Misery

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I’m going to start off the day by jumping right into a quick review of The Drones show at Schubas Tavern that I mentioned last week in this space. In the interest of full disclosure, I went to the bar this past Tuesday woefully unprepared. Though I was fully aware that The Drones have been around for nearly a decade and have been well received both in their home country of Australia and here stateside, my knowledge of their back catalog was (and still is) shamefully inadequate. As such, I walked into the show this week having no idea what to expect but with high expectations nonetheless.

drones_1

To be honest, Schubas is not one of my favorite places in the city to see a show. For starters the location is less than ideal for someone coming from the Wicker Park/Ukrainian Village area, and though the room is cozy enough it lacks the dive-like appeal that my favorite venues are known for. Not to say that I haven’t seen mu share of great shows there, but they could have easily taken place elsewhere and likely been even better. Years ago the space seemed to be far more indie-friendly, but as the neighborhood has gentrified into Lincoln Park north, the bookings have trended far more toward the mainstream. Again, not that there is anything wrong with that, but I feel as though it certainly had an effect on the attendance on Tuesday. Despite being a major metropolis, getting people in Chicago to go out on a Tuesday night is often like pulling teeth: unless something really big is going down you are going to have a hard time packing the room. And therein lies the biggest downfall of Schubas on this particular evening. The band on the stage was so immensely talented that it was almost painful for me to watch them pour their souls out on the stage for a semi-lifeless crowd of maybe thirty people. Selfishly I was fine with catching an incredible band in a non-crowded and intimate environment, but altruistically they deserved much better.

The Drones Band 2

The show itself was an hour-long onslaught of some of the best shoegaze-garage music that I have had the opportunity to witness up close and personal. The entire band oozed with talent and their chops were on full display throughout the evening. Singer and guitarist Gareth Liddiard put on a mesmerizing performance, belting out infectious hooks in his thick Australian accent while shredding his fingers on against his own guitar strings. No exaggeration, the white pick guard on his Fender Jazzmaster was stained with his blood by the time the band was into their third song. Beyond his intense vocals, Liddiard was otherwise quiet throughout the set, seemingly comfortable to defer all witty banter to guitarist Dan Luscombe, who had no trouble keeping the crowd entertained. Typically it is hard to maintain interest in a show when you are unfamiliar with the majority of the songs, but The Drones had me sucked in entirely from the opening note, an incredible testament to what this band is able to do on stage. Though the set was short and there was no encore, I left more than please with the performance that I took in. Unfortunately I can’t comment on the setlist given my relative unfamiliarity and the fact that the band did not leave one on the stage for me to snag, but I can tell you this: if you have a chance to see these guys play, do it, and if you don’t, at least buy their records. You won’t regret it.

The Drones – Nail It Down (Live)

Buy The Drones @ Insound!

Real Ones Band

Next up is a brand new track that I got just a few days ago and have been spinning habitually ever since. As you might imagine, I get a ton of songs in my inbox on any given day, and though I try to listen to everything eventually, sometimes one of them catches my eye right away and I just need to hear it immediately. This was the case when I came upon Real Ones on Wednesday afternoon. Not only did it come from one of my favorite PR folks to work with, but the notes that accompanied it compared the band to both The Flaming Lips and Wilco. I’m aware that most of the time you can take those types of comparisons with a grain of salt, but I have a habit of being instantly intrigued by any band that welcomes a comparison to The Lips. The vast majority of the time I end up thoroughly disappointed, but Real Ones offered me a very pleasant surprise. I wouldn’t that they are really all that similar, but I can see the similarities in a RIYL sort of way. In any event, this is clearly a band that can stand on its own merits. When you venture into the realm of melodic acid folk-pop, there typically isn’t a lot of room for error, and these guys have absolutely nailed it. “Every Dog Has His Day” is criminally addictive and will be included on the Norwegian quintet’s US debut All for the Neighbourhood, which is dropping next week.

Real Ones – Every Dog Has His Day

Buy Real Ones @ Insound!

Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams has always been an artist that I have fallen in and out of love with throughout the years. I loved everything he did in Whiskeytown and Heartbreaker will always be on my list of albums I would want if I were stranded on a desert island. Beyond that, with the exception of Gold, which was a big part of my life for a few years, the rest of his records sort of come and go on a whim. While I like everything, I tend to go through phases and move on. As a lyrics person, I feel that this is easy to do with Ryan’s records given their relatability and often very personal content. The nice thing about that is that every now and then, when a song catches me or comes up in a shuffle, I can go back and rediscover pieces of his catalog that I had previously neglected or under-appreciated. This has been the case for me over the last week or so with Demolition. I used to like “Starting to Hurt” a ton, but never gave a whole lot of thought to the rest of the record beyond the initial infatuation the first week that I had it. Fast forward to now, after falling in love with the track “Cry on Demand,” and Demolition is my current favorite Ryan record. While I know that may change by morning (though I doubt it; I’m going to give it at least a few months at this point), it’s yet another gem that I can now stow away in my list of albums that I can play from start to finish and love every second of.

Ryan Adams – Cry On Demand

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Today marks the beginning of a much-anticipated long weekend for me.  I am headed to the airport this morning to pick up a certain reader for a four day visit, the Buckeyes kick off the college football season tomorrow, and there will be a lot of heavy drinking taking place.  As such, things are going to be brief today.  Please do not take my brevity as a lack of caring though; I hope everyone has a drunken but safe Labor Day weekend.  Go Bucks and enjoy the tunes!

Rain Machine Kyp Malone Album Cover Art

Many of you who keep up with the music scene via various blogs have probably heard the regrettable news about one of my favorite bands, TV on the Radio.  As posted yesterday by XXXX, the band has announced that they will be taking a one-year hiatus from each other.  As a fan, I took the news pretty hard.  It has already been a year since the release of 2008’s Dear Science, and given the break it seems that we will be waiting at least another two years before we could plausibly get our hands on another new LP from the Brooklyn group.  Luckily, two key members from TVOTR have been active in a handful of side projects to help us get out fix in the meantime.  I addition to his work in Tahiti Boy & The Palmtree Family earlier this year, vocalist Tunde Adebimpe has recently been collaborating with Massive Attack, while multi-instrumentalist Kyp Malone has lent his guitar stylings to Iran and will also be releasing a solo album under the name Rain Machine later this year.  I have written about Rain Machine in a previous TGIF entry, and off all the projects mentioned it bears the closest resemblance to TVOTR’s material.  A new track from the upcoming self-titled album hit the Internet this week, and gives me something to look forward to this fall in my newly TVOTR-less existence.  “Smiling Black Faces” is a politically charged anthem that addresses the 2006 slaying of Sean Bell by a group of NYPD officers.  The track is expectedly dark, but Malone’s warbling vocals and trademark guitar fuzz remind me of a happier time when TVOTR were still together making records.

Rain Machine – Smiling Black Faces

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Ohio University College Green

In accordance with the brevity that I mentioned in the opening, I am foregoing a second new track today and skipping straight to something from the vault.  I highly doubt that any of our readers will have ever heard of this before, and it is admittedly average at best, but it is a track that takes me way back to my college years and I happened to stumble upon it in my library earlier this week.  Back in my days at Ohio University, there was a bar on Court Street called Night Court, which is unfortunately now closed.  It was your typical college bar, nothing really special, but it was one of the few places in town that regularly hosted free live music throughout the week.  My first few years in Athens I spent nearly every Thursday night there listening to a local musician by the name of Jason Allen Phelps.  The setup was simple: a man, an acoustic guitar, and a stool.  Phelps clearly had more talent than the tiny room could hold, but after the bar closed and I eventually graduated I never heard anything about him again.  The truth is, I probably wouldn’t really dig his brand of music if I came upon it now, but for a few years it was a part of my weekly routine.  This track, “Simple Man,” is the one that always stuck in my head.  To this day it still reminds me of a simpler time in my life, when beers were $2 and my biggest concern was which party to attend on Friday night.  When it comes down to it that is what is truly great about music; that ability to take you away to another time or place.  This particular track probably won’t do it for you, but this would be a great weekend to revisit one that does.  And if anyone happens to know what Jason Allen Phelps is up to these days, please drop a note in the comments.

Jason Allen Phelps – Simple Man

I hope that everyone else’s weekend is getting off to a better start than mine.  Not that 99.9% of you likely give a shit, but I have a blog and you don’t do I’m going to tell my story anyway.  When I went to my car for a trip to the grocery store last night I found that my front passenger window had been smashed and the papers in my glove compartment had been thrown all over the front seats of my SUV.  It’s a pretty common occurrence here in Chicago, but it still pissed me off.  Luckily the bastards didn’t take anything and were smart enough to not even attempt to remove my factory DVD/navigation system.  I can only assume that they were expecting the empty boxes in my back seat to be filled with valuables or some such shit.  On the downside it’s supposed to rain all day and I’m out almost a hundred bucks in repair costs, but I suppose it could be worse.  Surprisingly the would-be thieves left behind my iPhone charger and adapter cord, as well as the smokes in the cup holder and several dollars in quarters in the center console.  Needless to say, I am in need of some good old-fashioned rock and roll to lift my spirits, and that’s exactly what I have in store for you all today.

No Age Band

Today’s first track is exactly the kind of rock I was talking about above: noisy, loud, spontaneous, and, most of all, fun.  Given those descriptives, it’s not hard to figure out that I’m talking about the Los Angeles noise pop duo No Age.  We like to think that our readers are in tune with most of the relevant happenings within the indie rock scene, so I’m going to assume that you are aware that the band has a new EP in the works on Sub Pop that is set to be released on October 6th.  What you may not know is that the band has made the last of the four tracks on the EP, “You’re A Target,” available for free download.  A quick listen reveals that the song is unmistakably No Age, but a closer examination reveals that the band has evolved by leaps and bounds since their last full length, Nouns, put them on the map in 2008. The noise is still present, as is Randy Randall’s abuse of his guitar, but these two aspects just seem to work together better here than in the past.  The result is a soaring anthem that, while tuned down just a bit, will still rock your face off.  The EP is called Losing Feeling and will be released on vinyl as well as in digital download form.  Be sure to look for it in a little over a month.  In the meantime, you can stream it in its entirety by visiting the band’s page on Sup Pop’s website (RIGHT HERE) and entering your e-mail address.

No Age – You’re A Target

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Noah and the Whale Band

I don’t want to say too much about Noah and the Whale here today because I intend to give their latest record the full review treatment sometime in the near future, so this may be the most brief summary in the short history of TGIF Hodge Podges.  That said, I just got my advance of the album in the mail on Thursday and I am completely stoked to get acquainted with it.  Thusly I feel compelled to share a track of some sort from the band here today.  This particular mp3 is a YACHT remix of “Blue Skies,” a song that will be featured in its traditional format on the band’s upcoming album The First Days of Spring.  Being that the band is based in London, the UK release of the album is just a few days away, but we Americans will need to wait until October to head to the record store and bring home a copy.  In the meantime, this remix should give you an idea of the direction they are taking on their third effort.  Previously known for their rustic folk sound, Noah and the Whale are going for a bit more electric vibe this time around, which is evident here.  I wish I could say more, but like I said, this is merely a teaser.  Keep checking back for that full review in the next few weeks.

Noah and the Whale – Blue Skies (YACHT Remix)

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The Damnwells Band

Today’s vault band is one that many of you have probably never heard of, but they occupied a very special place in my heart way back in 2003 when I first discovered them.  I can’t quite put my finger on the exact scenario in which I happened upon The Damnwells, but I do know that I can thank a very special friend of mine who currently lives in Brooklyn, which is coincidentally the band’s hometown.  Over the course of a few years, The Damnwells’ blend of Americana indie pop was more or less the soundtrack of my life, with their first two records, PMR +1 and Bastards of the Beat, playing almost constantly.  I listened while I drank, slept, rode the train to and from work, and while I did other things not fit to print.  Unfortunately these guys fell off my radar somewhere along the way, as is typically the case with anything that one obsesses over.  Over the last few weeks I’ve been feeling very nostalgic though, and that nostalgia has helped me rediscover these guys.  Listening again is almost as if I never stopped; the songs are still engrained in my subconscious somewhere and hearing them all these years later feels like being reunited with a long lost friend.  The songs are beautiful and sometimes heartbreaking, laced with delicate arrangements and near-perfect lyrical content.  It’s hard to choose just one track to share, but I am settling on “H.C.E.” from PMR +1, if for no other reason than it contains one of my favorite lines from a modern song when Alex Dezen croons: “I never kissed a boy, but I/Hit a girl/You could get in big, big trouble she said/In the real world.”  I highly recommend checking out some of their early stuff if you get a chance, and if you happen to live in Brooklyn they will be at the Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight.

The Damnwells – H.C.E.

Buy The Damnwells @ Insound!

Daniel Johnston

Without the anticipation of Lollapalooza, the outlook for the looming weekend ahead may seem a bit bleak.  But fear not fellow Chicagoans, there are actually plenty of interesting live music events on the horizon over the next few days.  The Air and Water show means that there will be no notable street festivals offering shows of the gratis variety, but if you have a little change in your pocket and a craving for some good tunes I have some options for you.  For starters, tonight at Schubas you can catch Citizen Dick darlings The Duke and the King, the side project from Felice Brothers drummer Simone Felice, for a mere $10 bucks.  In case you missed Kevin’s review of their record, it is good and we love it.  If that’s not enough for you, tomorrow and Sunday brings the Green Music Festival to the near west side’s Eckhart Park.  Bands playing include Sybris, Say Hi, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Art Brut, Lucero, and Catfish Haven.  A steal at $12 bucks a day or $20 for a two day pass.  And finally, Saturday night at the Metro features a rare Chicago show from Austin’s favorite son Daniel Johnston.  Tickets are slightly steeper at $20 a piece, but this is a unique opportunity to see the indie legend outside of his hometown.  Well, I’ve given you your options so now it’s up to you to get out there and have fun.  And with that, on to the new music…

Radiohead Band

First up today is the mystery-shrouded track that has taken the blogosphere by storm over the last 48 hours.  That’s right, it’s freshly leaked new song from (maybe?) Radiohead.  First we get a brand new track via their official website last week, the tribute song “Harry Patch (In Memory Of),” and now a mysterious Internet leak of yet another new track from Mr. Yorke and co.  All of this coming on the heels of a recent interview in which the band claimed that they will never make another studio album.  As a result there has been much buzz throughout the music community as to what this all could mean.  Was the announcement of no more albums merely a hoax to create hype for a new record that is forthcoming?  Personally, Kevin and I are of the opinion that this will be the first in a series of leaked songs that fans will be able to download over a period of time, resulting in the eventual collection of a new record one track by track.  Knowing the band, this would make perfect sense as their latest statement against the traditional industry standard of packaged albums.  Radiohead has challenged convention in the past by releasing In Rainbows as a pay-what-you will download, and this could very well be yet another way that they revolutionize the way in which fans acquire and consume music.  The latest leak, which has been dubbed “These Are My Twisted Words,” is very obviously vintage Radiohead, just the way we like it.  While the possibility exists that this is merely a demo or outtake from a previous recording session, all of us here at Citizen Dick are hopeful that it marks the beginning of much more new material in the near future.

Radiohead – These Are My Twisted Words

Jack White Jimmy Page Might Get Loud

Next up is another fresh new oddity from another one of my all-time favorite artists, the one and only Jack White.  If you are like me, you have been looking forward to the release of the Sony documentary It Might Get Loud, featuring Jack along with Jimmy Page and The Edge.  As part of the film, which chronicles the three musicians and their unique relationships with the guitars they play, White is challenged to write and perform a song on the spot in a mere ten minutes.  The result is “Fly Farm Blues,” and the entire process will be documented on-screen when the film premiers.  Obviously the track is quite crude given the circumstances, but it is definitely promising.  With rumors of a Jack White solo album in the works, this could be an indication of what we may expect from that project.  If you aren’t familiar with the film that will feature this song, definitely check out the website HERE and watch the trailer, as it is sure to be one you won’t want to miss.  It is opening today in New York and Los Angeles, and it will be coming to select other cities over the next few weeks.  Unfortunately there is no mp3 download of the song, so you will have to watch the YouTube clip below to hear it.  If you want to own it, it is available for purchase as a single via iTunes and will be for sale soon as a one-sided 7” via Jack’s label, Third Man Records.

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Les Paul

I assume that by now you have heard about the death of guitar god, inventor, and musical visionary Les Paul by this point.  In addition to revolutionizing the guitar as we know it today, he also introduced the concepts of dubbing, tape delay, and multi-track recording.  Without Les we may have never gotten to where we are now in terms of playing and recording modern music.  I’m not going to waste my breath talking about his incredible life in this space today; if you don’t already know and want to learn you can go to his Wikipedia page for that.  Instead I would prefer to ask all of you to take a brief moment of silence to remember one of the most important figures in the history of music.  Les, if you’re listening, thank you for rock and roll.  Rest in peace.

Les Paul & Mary Ford – How High The Moon

Lollapalooza

Alright kids, here’s the deal.  As I’ve mentioned before, I write this Friday column for your reading pleasure sometime late Thursday night.  Unless you’ve been living under a cultural rock, you are aware that this weekend is Lollapalooza here in my fair town of Chicago.  As such, I’m not going to bother telling you about anything else going on around town nor am I going to write anything of substance today.  As fate would have it, I accidentally got completely wasted tonight and it’s all I can do to manipulate a keyboard in any kind of functional manner this evening.  Given that my town is hosting one of the country’s biggest music festivals starting a mere ten hours from right now, I gave in to my carnal urges and ended up getting drunk with a host of friends from far and near this evening and in a few short hours I will be up and ready for 36 solid hours of live music.  I hate to let my dear readers down, so rather than passing out and flaking completely on today’s entry, I’m just going to lob a handful of tunes from some of the acts I’ll be catching at the festival this weekend at you Radio Dick style.  Yeah, most of these are semi-mainstream and not the kind of stuff we would normally go for, but it’s all good and I know I’ll enjoy hearing it in the great outdoors with thousands of friends and an absurd blood alcohol content.  It’s not an ideal outcome, nor am I particularly proud of myself for resorting to such a tactic, but I promise to make it up to you with the best Lollapalooza coverage I can possibly muster in my vodka-induced haze over the next several days.  Enjoy and wish me luck!

TV on the Radio – Staring at the Sun

Deerhunter – Microcastle

Vampire Weekend – Oxford Comma

Neko Case – Middle Cyclone

Dan Deacon – Snookered

Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes

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.

Mazes Band

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

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Fruit Bats Band

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

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Jesse Matheson

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

Jane's Addiction Band

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

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Elvis perkins in Dearland Band

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

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Kyp Malone TVOTR

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 22nd 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

Brandon Cox Atlas Sound

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 20th 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

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Voxtrot Band

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

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