I'm too old for this shit. Seriously. I left my house to go out at 9:00 on a Wednesday night. And honestly, "i'm too old for this shit" was all set to be the title of this post. That, however, was before I saw The Spinto Band play the Hi-Dive.

There were two openers tonight, The Changes and Dios Malos. Having left my house at 9:00, I obviously missed The Changes. Apparently they were quite good, as some asshole kept shouting "bring The Changes back!" throughout The Spinto Band's set. We get it, they were good. And I was even sorry for missing their set, but shut the fuck up, jackass!! I did arrive to catch most of Dios Malos' set though, and they most definitely tore the shit up. I love me some good reverb-drenched rock n' roll! They almost reminded me of Band Of Horses turned up a couple of notches. I like to believe that during their set I kinda text-talked Leah into coming to the show. She didn't arrive in time to see Dios Malos, but was in plenty of time for The Spinto Band. Luckily she had a good time so I don't have to feel bad... lol.

The Spinto Band took the stage with little fanfare to maybe 150 people. Holy. Fucking. Hell. These kids put on a phenomenal show. The selfish part of me loves that I got to see them in such a small venue with so few people. But how in the world is a band that has been around for nearly 10 years (I only heard of them last year, but I do my research, dammit!), and who has such an amazing stage presence, relegated to this sort of existence? Don't get me wrong - they were either having a fabulous time or they were putting on Oscar-worthy performances. But they should at the very least be playing venues such as the Fox or the Gothic. I guess it's also a selfish part of me to want them to come BACK to Denver... and when playing for a handful of people, who knows?

But enough of the perplexities of indie rock, on to the show! I am not so familiar with The Spinto Band to be able to come up with a setlist for tonight. They played a lot from Nice And Nicely Done, the only album of theirs that I have heard. Here are a few highlights of the evening:

• Not one, but TWO kazoos on Brown Boxes. I saw one guy strapping on a harmonica-type apparatus, but I thought to myself "that's not a harmonica..." Leah leaned over and said "that's a kazoo!". Awesome. Plus, the keyboard player had one too. Yay kazoos!
• I may have missed their set, but two members of The Changes came on stage for a cover of I Think We're Alone Now. I think everyone was singing. Fantastic.
• The mandolin on Oh Mandy was sublime.
• Direct To Helmet. Need I say more? OK, maybe I do... I love this song. And it was enhanced by some stellar choreographed dance moves... lol.
• Late was just... awesome.

I'm still struck by the energy this young band showed on stage. It was obviously a very fun experience for me, which is good because I really need to be reminded from time to time why it is that I go out at 9:00 on Wednesday nights.


Now playing (with a renewed appreciation):



it's getting late late
tell me what time it is i can't wait
i gotta get back to the house
my show is on

so walk and don't run
it's slippery by the pool and it hurts
you know that it only gets worse
'cause the grade is steep

it hit me so hard fear for my agitated
discomposed disturbed perturbed and alarmed
i can't believe this works

it makes you supersonic
your science hurts
so why don't you
stop it
and switch me chairs

my efforts fall short but in the long run
lots could stretch forward then it'd all be almost there
it's just a longer ride

so up to full speed
if i can handle it well we'll see
action takes more than just luck
it needs a well thought plan

it's getting good good
turning and dodging like all you should
just as it tosses me out
i'll have to look to land

i think you're supersonic
your science hurts
so why don't you
stop it
and switch me chairs

it's getting late late
tell me what time it is i can't wait
i gotta get back to the house
my show is on

so walk and don't run
it's slippery by the pool and it hurts
you know that it only gets worse
'cause the grade is steep

i think you're supersonic
your science hurts
so why don't you
stop it
and switch me chairs

i think you're supersonic
your science hurts
so why don't you
stop it
and switch me chairs

Quickly...

Voxtrot will release their self-titled full length debut on May 22 (Beggars/Playlouder). Tracklist:

 

Ryan Adams will release a real, honest-to-goodness physical record on June 5 (Lost Highway). Disregarding the 1,058 albums he released via his website last year, Easy Tiger will be the first new music from Ry-Ry since his slightly over-prolific 2005. Tracklist (order TBD):

Oh my god, whatever. :b

Artwork for the very highly anticipated Wilco release - Sky Blue Sky - due out in May:

Tracklist:

01 Either Way
02 You Are My Face
03 Impossible Germany
04 Sky Blue Sky
05 Side With The Seeds
06 Shake It Off
07 Please Be Patient With Me
08 Hate It Here
09 Leave Me (Like You Found Me)
10 Walken
11 What Light
12 On And On And On

Seems like forever since our last Wilco release...

A couple of weeks ago I found a new band to obsess over... a band which comes from Minneapolis and goes by the name of Cloud Cult. Since hearing their new album, The Meaning Of 8 (due out 4/10/2007), I just can't get enough. Yes, this is old news I know... but it begs the question: just what are they putting in the water in Minneapolis?

Beyond Cloud Cult I've recently "discovered" two more Minneapolis bands who've recently put out some really good shit.

Mouthful Of Bees. Their record The End was released on 2/15/07 and is of the indie art/power pop persuasion. Of course this is not the first blog ever written about Mouthful Of Bees, and in some light research (i.e. the first page of a "mouthful of bees" google search) I found several blog posts about them. Unsurprising to me is that I saw them at least twice compared to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah & fellow Minnesotans Tapes n' Tapes. Mouthful Of Bees skillfully wind their way through rockers as well as slower tempo songs. The album's production is fuzzy, and there are sporadic bursts of noise (hence the CYHSY comparison?) but at the center of it all are some real fun songs. Personally, I rather like the fuzziness in some cases. Who wants to forever listen to slick production that completely masks the spontaneity and even heart of the songs? So are these youngsters poised to become the next indie blog darlings? Time will certainly tell... just remember that although you may not have heard them here first, at least you heard them here before you heard them on Pitchfork... :)

Listen to The Now. Buy the album.



Download "The Now" (mp3)
from "The End"
by Mouthful of Bees (Afternoon Records)
Buy at eMusic

The Original Mark Edwards. He's not as new as and not quite as "my cup of tea" as Mouthful Of Bees, still The Original Mark Edwards released a great album entitled The Doom Loop on February 13. Sadly, a google search turned up precious little information about this man. Besides his MySpace page, the most I could find (well, OK, so I looked for like 5 minutes, but I'm lazy!) was at the Minnewiki. The album? Stylistically, it's all over the place. Not that that's a bad thing. Keeps you guessing, at the very least. I grabbed the album from emusic the other day.... don't get me wrong, I love emusic, but I wish they'd have some sort of liner notes downloads to go with the albums. From the Twin Cities City Pages I learned this:

It's also a solo project in the most extreme sense; just check out The Doom Loop's credit line: "OME: guitars, vocals, bass, drums, beat box, Wurlitzer, kitchen pots, violin, electric kazoo, synthesizers, hand claps, tambourine, programming, piano, toys, clarinet, organ." Amazingly, that's about it. The liner notes go on to mention that one Steve Goold, a real brick house of a drummer, performed on half of one song, and that Edwards's wife Heidi sang backup on two others. Mixing duties on a handful of tracks were farmed out. Otherwise, everything the listener hears on The Doom Loop—with its six-part vocal harmonies, unholy warbles of recircuited children's toys, and countless tracks of guitar, synth, and kitchen utensil clamor, all twisted and chunked together like so many Rubik's cube blocks into no solid color but something that much more interesting, nay, original—all of this is the work of one man.

He experiments with vocals, he experiments with instruments, and the result is an incredibly likable album. I've only listened to The Doom Loop a couple of times, but I can say that the comparisons to The Flaming Lips, Neutral Milk Hotel and Apples In Stereo are not unfounded. Think 1960's pop meets 2000's synth experimental. Very nice.

Now listen to these songs and buy The Doom Loop, too. Yay Minneapolis!



Download "The Doom Loop" (mp3)
from "The Doom Loop"
by The Original Mark Edwards (Princess Records)
Buy at eMusic

Download "Danger, Danger" (mp3)
from "The Doom Loop"
by The Original Mark Edwards (Princess Records)

Tortoise has announced some tour dates! Nice.....

06-14 Columbus, OH - Wexner Center
06-15 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
06-16 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre *
06-18 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre
06-20 Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room
06-22 San Francisco, CA - Independent
06-23 San Francisco, CA - Independent
06-26 Seattle, WA - Neumos
07-01 Chicago, IL - Metro
07-03 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
07-05 Boston, MA - Museum of Fine Art
07-08 New York, NY - Webster Hall #

* with Hot Chip
# with Kieren Hebden, Steve Reid

Too bad no Hot Chip in Denver... that would have been fantastic.

I always think that I won't have much to say after shows where I'm not too familiar with the artist. But somehow I manage to think of something to say (and probably too much) every time... :)

Tonight we saw Alexi Murdoch at the Fox Theatre. However, first I must mention the opening band, Midnight Movies, because I really dug them. Actually, although I entered the theatre just at the end of their set, there was another opener (nobody I know knows their name). Leah described them as "playing the same song for ten minutes with no vocals and they were all wearing scary masks". No loss, then.

Midnight Movies seemed far too rockin' to be opening an Alexi Murdoch show, but no complaints here. Perhaps they were meant to wake the crowd up before Alexi's mellow tunes. Anyway, they were quite fun, two girls (singer/keyboards & drummer) and 2 guys (bass & guitar). The girls switched for a few songs and the singer drummed and the drummer played keys (she also played bass for at least one song). I don't really know why drums should be different from any other instrument, but I've always been impressed with people who can sing and drum at the same time. Multi-instrumentalists win me over quite handily too (as long as they are good at said instruments). These guys and gals were great. I checked out their MySpace page, and I have to say that the songs they have posted are OK, but much much better live. Which we all know is how it should be, but they are definitely worth checking out.

So, on to Alexi's set... Leah was right to recommend ingesting large amounts of caffeine before the show... lol. I think the only song of his that I was familiar with before the show was Orange Sky, which I believe is on one of the OC soundtracks. I'm just too damn lazy to look it up right now... But I knew to expect a really low-key, folksy show. He certainly didn't disappoint in that regard. The first few songs were just Alexi and his guitarist (whose name I can't fucking remember, even though Alexi mentioned him at least 4-5 times...). Shortly into the set they were joined by 3/4 of Midnight Movies - the women and the bass player. Much to my disbelief, even the addition of a bass, a drummer and another voice weren't enough to kick the energy level up a notch. So although the music and the songs were beautiful, I felt my sleepy eyes glazing over just a bit as I kind of drifted off into the mellow-ness.

Thankfully, though, about 45 minutes into the set, the band finally rocked out on a song. It didn't last long, but it was fantastic... :) They did a couple more rockers toward the end of the set, but for the most part it was definitely a very mellow show (and I need a synonym for mellow right about now). I did really enjoy the show, and Alexi broke up the tranquility (thanks Becky!) with some (as a fellow concert-goer put it) witty banter. And he certainly is a funny guy:

He mentioned that they've been watching a lot of Dave Chappelle, and Alexi compared himself and his guitarist to Rick James & Charlie Murphy (it's a celebration bitches!). Then he picked up the electric guitar, made a grand start to the next song, and realized guitar was not plugged in. Or turned on. Whatever. He suggested "rewinding" then wondered how to say "it's a celebration bitches!" backward... then he attempted it... lol.

He explained that he doesn't do the "setlist" thing, because then he would know what's happening next. Which is "bollocks" (god I wish I were European), because then he might as well play the cd. Of course, this sometimes leads to gaps between songs while Alexi is thinking... but it just gives him a chance to entertain us with his witty banter.

This is not so much funny, but worth mentioning, because we decided Alexi is getting some bad information from somewhere... History - he was supposed to play the Walnut Room (capacity 200) in Denver last year. I'd pondered going, but crapped out for some reason or another - which was OK as Alexi cancelled the show because he heard he hadn't sold too many tickets (I think that's what happened - Leah?). The Fox Theatre holds 700, and while the show wasn't sold out, there was quite a good turnout. Alexi told us that he thought only about 50 people would come out to the show... I'm so glad we did better than 50 people...

The last song of the encore was a sing-along. Although it mentioned god a lot, Alexi swore it was not a religious song, and that he is not a religious man. "All it is, is a bunch of people singing together, and what's more religious than that?" Amen.

All in all, I would definitely see Alexi again. Which is great because he intimated that he will be back in a few months. I love that he seemed genuinely happy to be playing for us. I lost count of how often he said what a great time he was having, what a great crowd we were, and how the altitude was making him loopy... :)

Oh, and I didn't even smell pot smoke, not even once. and it was Boulder...

Now playing (I had planned to be asleep by now, but my sister Becky - who works the overnight shift at a hospital in lovely Fort Collins - decided to google chat me, which is very distracting):

was this:

now this:

Yup, I've been on an Andrew Bird kick this week. Only 63 days 'til I get to see him...

...I do know that I am completely smitten with a band out of Minnesota that goes by the name of Cloud Cult. I had never heard of the band until a week or so ago when I was catching up on one of my most favorite blogs - The Sneeze. If you don't read The Sneeze, you should start right this minute. I like to think of it as the Seinfeld of blogging... at it's core it's really about nothing, but it's fucking hilarious as shit. I've been a fan of The Sneeze for a couple of years, ever since I was turned on to the travesty that is Steve, Don't Eat It! Brilliant.

It was this post that caused my newfound crush. Steve at The Sneeze recommended Cloud Cult, so really, how could I pass up a chance to check them out? After all, Steve is a friend of Guster, so he has a good track record as far as musical taste goes. I managed to track down a copy of their upcoming album entitled The Meaning Of 8 (to be released April 10, 2007 - buy it!!). It sat on my iPod for about a week, and then this evening, for reasons not entirely clear to me, I was hit with the urge to give it a listen. I've played it 3 times through now, pretty much nonstop. It's that good.

Danish band Mew is coming to North America! Mew saw their 2003 debut, Frengers, finally released stateside last month, and last year released the highly-acclaimed And The Glass-Handed Kites.

 

Dates:

If only they could bring Rock Plaza Central along... if only.