Whole Lotta News

Lot's of news to report and not a lot of time to do it. So here we go. Destroyer, everyone's fave, has just released the dates for a spring tour! Here they are:

03.14.2008 Austin TX The Parish (Merge Records SXSW Showcase)
04.16.2008 Minneapolis MN 400 Bar*
04.17.2008 Chicago IL Logan Square Auditorium*
04.18.2008 Detroit MI Pike Room*
04.19.2008 Toronto ON Lee's Palace*
04.20.2008 Montreal QC Club Lambi*
04.22.2008 Brooklyn NY Music Hall of Williamsburg*^
04.23.2008 New York NY Bowery Ballroom^
04.24.2008 Philadelphia PA North Star Bar^
04.25.2008 Washington DC Black Cat^
04.26.2008 Asheville NC Grey Eagle^
04.27.2008 Carrboro NC Cat's Cradle^
04.28.2008 Atlanta GA The Earl^
04.29.2008 Nashville TN Mercy Lounge^
04.30.2008 St. Louis MO Blueberry Hill^
05.01.2008 Kansas City MO Record Bar^
05.02.2008 Omaha NE Waiting Room^
05.03.2008 Denver CO Walnut Room^
05.13.2008 Edmonton AB Starlite Room$
05.14.2008 Calgary AB #1 Royal Canadian Legion Hall$
05.16.2008 Salt Lake City UT Urban Lounge$
05.18.2008 Phoenix AZ Rhythm Room$
05.19.2008 Los Angeles CA Troubadour$
05.20.2008 San Diego CA Casbah$
05.21.2008 San Francisco CA The Independent$
05.23.2008 Portland OR Aladdin Theater$
05.31.2008 Vancouver BC The Commodore

* with Colossal Yes
^ with Andre Ethier
$ with Devon Williams

mp3: Destroyer - Foam Hands

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Speaking of tours, Shout Out Louds are pitching in with a couple of dates to go along with their new EP, Impossible. Here's the dates and the track listing:

03.09.2008 Big Cypress Indian Reservation, Florida Langerado Festival
03.11.2008 New York, NY Joe's Pub (2 shows! 9:30 and 11:30)
03.14.2008 Austin, TX The Parish (Merge SXSW Showcase)

Track listing:
Impossible (radio edit)
Impossible ("It's Possible" remix by Studio)
Impossible (Van Rivers & Subliminal Kid remix)
Hard Rain (live from Haldern Festival)
December (b-side)
Video: "Impossible" directed by Ted Malmros

mp3: Shout Out Louds - Impossible

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In other tour news, Nada Surf announced today that the supporting bands for their US tour has completely changed. Sea Wolf will be opening from March 17-April 3.
Brooklyn's, The Jealous Girlfriends (www.myspace.com/thejealousgirlfriends)
support from April 3-April 12 (except for April 11). Illinois support on
April 13.

mp3: Sea Wolf - I Made A Resolution
mp3: The Jealous Girlfriends - How Now
mp3: Illinois - Screendoor

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Local favorite, Orion Rigel Dommisse has also scheduled a bunch of dates including one at Maxwell's in NJ with THE LISPS!!!!

2-2 Recess Coffee Syracuse, New York
2-3 liz’s house 116 w clinton st Ithaca, New York
2-5 SUNY Purchase
2-6 PA’s Lounge Somerville, Massachusetts
2-8 Chris Sadlers's house in providence, rhode island
2-9 Teahaus at Sarah Lawrence Bronxville, New York
2-10 a house in New Milford, Connecticut
2-12 The Chicken Coop 120 s manheim st Annville, Pennsylvania
2-20 The Boot Norfolk, Virginia
2-22 Twisted Tea Bazaar Charlottesville, Virginia
2-28 Maxwell’s (with The Lisps) Hoboken, New Jersey
3-2 Union Pool Brooklyn, New York
3-3 Cake Shop New York, New York
3-6 house show Nashville, Tennessee
3-13 SXSW at St. David’s Church Austin, Texas

mp3: Orion Rigel Dommisse - Fake Yer Death

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Speaking of the Lisps, they just put out a new video. Here's the Lisps and their political agenda! Woohoo!



mp3: The Lisps - Pepper Spray

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Speaking of videos, Thrushes just put out a video for the song 'Aidan Quinn' off of last years LP Sun Come Undone. Enjoy!



mp3: Thrushes - Aidan Quinn

Nada Surf - Live at the 8x10

Its taken me three days to actually be able to process my thoughts enough to post about this amazing show. Laurent the Laurent has posted about Sea Wolf opening this show, and I second everything he wrote. They were a great opener, but the crowd was there for the main event. This was the second sellout crowd for Nada Surf at the 8x10 club in lovely Federal Hill in Baltimore.

Nada Surf took the stage to a serious ovation. They commented on how it was great to be back, and thanked the crowd for coming out. They opened the show with Happy Kid, but about a minute into the song, Matthew stopped playing, and said something along the lines of, "forget all that, I'm really in the bathroom right now," and ran off stage only to return with a different guitar. He quickly reiterated all the previous remarks, and started Happy Kid again. This set a playful and loose mood for the set that would ensure a good time for all. After rocking through a few favorites, the real nature of the show and the crowd was revealed when they played Fruit Flies. It would have been great no matter what, but when the song got to the whole "I'm sorry, you've got no where to go" part, the Matthew let the crowd sing along, and WOW, what a moment. I've seen a LOT of Nada Surf shows, but never have I witnessed a crowd so well versed in their music, or so into the show. All throughout the set, the crowd sung along loudly (myself included). It's great to see that people have finally discovered this incredible talent.

Anywho, Nada Surf rocked through an amazing set that included two new songs, Whose Authority and I Like What You Say which can be found here as part of a live acoustic show. The new material sounds great; Certainly they fit well with the Nada Surf library of music.

As far as the older material, Nada Surf really brought the fire to this show. Maybe it was because this was the last date of this tour, or maybe because of the great crowd, but they played at a whole new level. Every transition was sharp. Matthews voice sounded better then I've ever heard. They were clearly having a good time on stage.

The last two songs of the main set, Paper Boats and Hyperspace rocked to no end, with extra crazy jamming at the ends, that included Matthew playing his guitar on his mic stand during Hyperspace. After a very brief break which had the crowd chanting Nada Surf, they returned to the stage and brought with them Lisa Fendelander, the keyboardist from Sea Wolf to play the accordion for Blonde on Blonde. It was a nice addition to the song. After absolutely killing Do It Again, the crowd got another bonus. Alex Church, the front man of Sea Wolf joined the band for a song. I don't know what it was called, but it was pretty cool. After that, they closed the set with Always Love and a crazy singalong version of Blankest Year that had the crowd screaming "fuck it" back at the stage. The song concluded with two separate crazy breakdowns, only to return to the main of the song.

What else can I say. This was easily the best Nada Surf show I've ever seen. I can't wait for the new album in February, or the tour that is sure to bring them back to Baltimore. Wow. I sound like a total fan boy. I guess I am.

Do It Again
Blizzard of 77
See These Bones

Full Setlist:

Happy Kid
Hi Speed Soul
What is Your Secret
Fruit Flies
Killians Red
Whose Authority
Blizzard of 77
Concrete Bed
Inside of Love
80 Windows
I like What You Say
Imaginary Friends
Paper Boats
Hyperspace

Blonde on Blonde
Do It Again
The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen w/ Alex Church
Always Love
Blankest Year

Update:

A new Nada Surf song called "Weightless" will be featured on Heroes tonight. Even more reason to watch the best show on TV.

Sea Wolf @ the 8x10

I had been looking forward to this show for a long time, and I wasn't disappointed at all. Listening to their CD and EP I knew I was going to hear some fantastic music, but I didn't know it would ROCK THAT MUCH! Hell yeah it did! Coming onto the stage, Alex Brown Church(the lead singer/songwriter of Sea Wolf) looked the part of good natured traveler and musician. The first notes of Winter Windows got the crowd pretty pumped letting me know that they had a pretty sizable following in attendance at the small sized 8x10. The Cold, The Dark, & The Silence and Middle Distance Runner followed and were spectacular. The arrangement of the songs live was put together really well. Everybody seemed to have a tamborine near by for some timely percussion. Then came the time where, in my opinion, Sea Wolf went to 11(ala Spinal Tap). They flat out rocked Made A Resolution. There was no stopping it after that with Sea Monuments and Song For The Dead following. Mr. Church then made me a happy man by slowing it down a tad to play a mezmerizing rendition of The Garden That You Planted. This was basically the set up song for the final one two punch of You're A Wolf and Black Dirt. They played these songs with the highest amount of emotion and energy giving them more power and meaning than they had before. When they left the stage they had me wanting more. Where was the encore? Oh yeah they were the opening act for Nada Surf(who took the show to a higher level...more on that later). With this show Sea Wolf has put them in the 'must see live' category for me. If you have a chance do yourself a favor and see them. They still have a couple more dates on this leg and hopefully will launch another one sometime next year. If you can't make it, pick up a copy of their EP or full length. Stay tuned for more on the Nada Surf half of the show.

Sea Wolf - The Garden That You Planted.mp3 --> website --> buy
Sea Wolf - Black Dirt.mp3

Thanks to Ted Licinski(Sea Wolf bassist) for giving some great feedback about the tour, life, crappy jobs, good jobs, and poster design. Keep on rockin that Devo suit.

Get In On It! Live in BaltoDCPhilly!

Tis a busy Friday for live music. Those of you who have been reading this blog know Evilhomer and I will be enjoying a pretty much guaranteed awesome show of Nada Surf and Sea Wolf at the 8x10. Hope to see you there. If you're in Philly The Velvet Teen, Say Hi To Your Mom, and The A-Sides are playing Johnny Brenda's. Down in DC Band of Horses is at the 9:30 with The Drones. Have a good one!

Nada Surf - Treading Water.mp3
Sea Wolf - The Garden That You Planted.mp3
The Velvet Teen - Caspian Can Wait.mp3
Say Hi To Your Mom - The Twenty-Second Century.mp3
The A-Sides - Park Avenue.mp3
Band Of Horses - Monsters.mp3

That's some good stuff right there.

More "old" news

Nada Surf played a 7 song acoustic set in Chicago on October 20th at the Apple store. And of course there is video. Included are the new tracks "Whose Authority" and "I Like What You Say." Watch and drool.

Its in three parts.

Change Of Pace - VIDEOS

I'm out of it. So out of it I can't even write right. Luckily I found Dangerbird Records has some great videos for some great music we've recently featured on this blog. Enjoy!
Sea Wolf - Winter Windows:


Eulogies - One Man


Dappled Cities - Fire Fire Fire

Nada Surf / Sea Wolf @ the Bottletree 10/24

So i had the pleasure of seeing Nada Surf and Sea Wolf last night and it was quite an eventful evening. I'll start with the venue. The Bottletree has recently emerged here in Birmingham as the place for quality but not huge bands to go. Perfect place for Nada Surf. There is a projection screen covering the stage at first but when the band is ready to go they flip the screen up and BAM! let the show begin. Its great because you never really feel that sense of urgency when you are just starring at an empty stage and you get pumped every time a tech comes on stage to prep. On to the shows.

Sea Wolf had a lot going against them. Its the opening band syndrome and it occurs at nearly every show. It must be hard and i feel sorry for bands for this too. I mean 7 times out of 10 you usually haven't heard of the band so that hurts. Then you have the fact that the people cant wait to hear those famous "this is our last one" so after every song you're just another song closer to seeing the band you came for and people just want you off the stage. I don't know if this is just me or if this happens to a lot of people but there is usually something that pisses me off during the opening act be it a drunken fool talking too loud or a funny looking band member or its the person who is pissed off at me because I'm so tall and i am blocking their view because i don't belong there or something.

Sea Wolf - Black Dirt.mp3

All that being said Sea Wolf was able to overcome the odds and put on a great show. They started out a little slow but song 3 got me. I am going to show my ignorance by saying that even though this blog recommend you check out Sea Wolf i did not do so besides a single that i got at my record store. Please forgive me for not knowing the song titles. Anyone that does know about them knows that they write very genuine songs with lyrics that may not grab you at first but come across sincere and heartfelt. OK so the opening band syndrome did strike in the form of a band member that distract me from my enjoyment. It was their cello player, she played great, there was nothing wrong with that but she apparently had a hard time looking at the crowd. It wasn't that she just looked at her instrument and was concentrating on her playing she was intentionally not looking at the crowd. I know, i know i am being WAY to picky here but toward the end of the show it was really bothering me. That was until they played their "last song" (cue crowd cheer) 'Black Dirt'. WOW What a tremendous song. They packed this song full of intensity and a couple of different building sections that made me want to hear them play another set. If you go just to see Nada Surf you won't be disappointed if you see these guys. Good job Sea Wolf to overcome the odds.

Now onto Nada Surf. I've seen them half a dozen times and after the last time i thought they couldn't get any better but man was i wrong. They really brought it tonight. I don't know if its because they have played these songs so many times that they sound better together as a band or if they have re-tooled a couple of things to make certain songs different but this was the best i have seen them play. Starting off with 'Happy Kid' was a perfect way to begin things. Their energy really shined through right from the start. At the last show the bassist Daniel did a lot of the talking but at this show lead singer Matthew was engaging the crowd and introing all the songs with inspiration driven tales about how they came to be. Before 'Fruit Flies' he told us about how just recently he had to rid his house of fruit flies and how he hoped the flies didn't hold grudges. 'Killian's Red' which is one of my favorites was delivered with a harrowing bass line that really set the tone of this song. A couple of new tracks were debuted as well 'Whose Authority' and 'I like what you say' . 'I like what you say' was my favorite of the two but each of them got me real exited for the new album which will be coming out in Feb. '08. As many times as I have seen them I had never heard the song 'Popular' which I thought up until now was a song that they had blacklisted and I was never going to hear it. Some would say it wouldn't be their choice pick if they got a request but a fan had brought a guitar for the band to sign and he had asked them if they would play it. They not only played it they tore it down. He was singing the verses like a madman and by this point in the show sweat was pouring down his face as they launched into the chorus. It made it worth waiting this long to see it. They ended their regular set with "Imaginary Friends", 'Paper Boats' and the best version of 'Hyperspace' I've ever heard. It was almost as if they just didn't want to leave the stage they just kept rocking the end. They came back out and cooled everyone off with a touching 'Blonde on Blonde' which we needed after the way the ended the first set. ' Do it Again' really got the crowd going mainly due to a large contingent of people near me that had wanted to hear that one the whole time and they went crazy. ' Blankest Year' is and was the perfect closer for this and any subsequent shows that they have. Having the whole crowd shouting FUCK IT! is always a recipe for success.
After the show we met up with Matthew and got him to sign our set lists, how we got them is a story I'd rather not tell at this time but anyway, and we were about to leave when we say the bassist Daniel outside the van. When we asked for his autograph he invited us back in to have some drinks with him. How can you say no to that! We ended up buying each other a couple rounds talking about everything from the new album to kids needing to learn foreign languages. It was great it wasn't until the bartender said " If you're not leaving with the band you gotta leave here" that I realized that we had been talking for an hour and a half, just Daniel and two of my friends. It was an all around incredible night. Go see Nada Surf if they are anywhere near you and I'm sure you will have a good time.

Nada Surf - Killian's Red.mp3

Mysterious Wolves Of The Sea

While temporarily engulfed with the beautiful music of Radiohead, I some how managed to come up to the surface and remember that there is some other music being produced these days. And hey this music ain't half bad either. Sea Wolf's frontman Alex Brown Church is mysterious fellow it seems. Or at least that's what comes across in Sea Wolf's music for me. This is music to sit on the porch of an old cabin by the mountainside while gazing into the light fog hanging there down in the valley. Not really Friday music, but quite possibly good Sunday morning music.

Sea Wolf - Black Dirt

more Sea Wolf --> website --> buy

Also Sea Wolf is currently on tour with NADA SURF! Check their myspace page for the dates. If you're in the Baltimore area they will be at the 8x10 on November 2nd.