WOLF PARADE: I'll Believe in Anything video

CANON DUEL! Does anyone know the rules of duels? If neither person gets hit, do you just keep loading and firing until it happens or do you go hand-to-hand?

SYD MATTERS

What has been referred to as 'the blend and gap between Radiohead and Nick Drake, is Jonathan Morali's electro/alternate persona, Syd Matters. Paris-based and making their American debut, Someday We Will Forsee Obstacles, is a blend of "folk guitar over electronic production brings to mind Iron & Wine as produced by Air" - The Big Takeover.

That description alone should be enough to attract a heavy cross-pollination of listeners. Listen for yourself.

To All of You
Obstacles

More tracks at Syd Matters MySpace page

Buy the album here.

SAM ROBERTS

I first heard of Sam Roberts on a recent Paste Magazine CD sampler I received. 'Bridge to Nowhere' starts as a bouncy track, mixing acoustic guitar and keys that turns into what feels like a handclap sing-a-long, souding a bit Rogue Wave-ish. Soon after, I saw the grizzly haired lead singer and entire band give a good show on David Letterman and looked for a few more tracks.

I ended up with the entire, new album from the band, Chemical City. A recent review explained that Sam Roberts has had a lot of success in his native Montreal, Canada and this album was his experimental wandering into doing whatever he felt like. Given that comment, the album as a whole didn't have what drew me in initially, like 'Bridget to Nowhere' did and I only found one extra track worth holding onto. I might look into the past successful records that were mentioned but for now, this is what I've got.

Bridge to Nowhere
Uprising Down Under

Download more tracks and get tour dates at Sam Roberts MySpace page

Buy the album Chemical City here.

WOLFMOTHER

I admittedly took a long time to find out about/check out Wolfmother. The album cover alone made me think 'lame hair band' and dismiss them. I was scared off at the thought of some 60's psychadelia retread like the Darkness and ran quickly away. LITTLE DID I KNOW how easily I would get into them and love them.

After much hype in magazines about them, I had to check them. Awesome stuff. I think the best description of them is from Paste magazine - ' the Aussie Led Sabbath/Black Zepplin', and while my knowledge of those two bands is minimal, the connection is totally there and well done at that. Not to mention the swirly flutes and organs used throughout that give a Jethro Tull nod.

This CD brings the rock that us Indie's have been without for so long and will most likely make my End of Year list!

Love Train
Joker & The Thief

Buy the Wolfmother CD here.

Listen to more Wolfmother at their MySpace page

MEW

I had heard of Mew in passing but never gave them much thought til I found they were opening up for the Bloc Party concert I was going to in Brooklyn last month. I downloaded a few tracks and got a weird, pixie-like (not the band) sound mixed with some bizarro Starship and Air Supply twist. It was mostly the spacey, high-pitched, vibrating vocals that led me to this absurd conclusion and I more or less called it a day.

When I got back from the BP concert, I gave them another shot and was happy to find their unique sound wasn't as off the charts as I first thought and was really approachable. It really is much more progressive rock with some shoe gazer that everyone loves, tossed in.

LINKS REMOVED UPON REQUEST OF RECORD LABEL
Why Are You Looking So Grave
the Chinaberry Tree

I believe their new CD coming out, And The Glass Handed Kites is a combo from other albums that didn't see a US appearance but I could definitely be wrong. Anyways, buy it here.

Hear more Mew at their MySpace page

NEWS: Help: A Day in the Life II

War Child Canada is back at the charity thing again, coming out with another blockbuster CD this fall. The release last fall had solid tracks by Coldplay, Bloc Party and Gorillaz and this round looks to have those great artists back as well as others.

On September 5, Help: A Day In The Life, a benefit compilation featuring eighteen exclusive tracks from really great bands will be released.

The full line-up for Help: A Day In The Life is: Bedouin Soundclash, Bloc Party, Buck 65, City and Color, Coldplay, Damien Rice, The Dears, Gorillaz, Jets Overhead, Kaiser Chiefs, Keane and Faultline, Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk, Metric, Payolas, Radiohead, Sam Roberts, Surefire and The Weakerthans.

The album is a fundraising endeavour designed to directly benefit war-affected children. War Child Canada is a
registered charity dedicated to providing timely, effective and sustainable support to communities ravaged by war.
100% of proceeds from the album will go toward War Child Canada's humanitarian work in war zones around the
world.

The last War Child Canada benefit album, Peace Songs, raised $500,000. With your help, Help: A Day In The Life will prove an even bigger success. For more information, see War Child Canada.

the DEARS

I latched onto the Dears after their last album when they were caught up in the whirlwind of all the fun Canadian bands coming out (Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, etc.). Their first album, Lost in the Plot had it's good moments but I definitely feel the sounds have been flushed out and are more precise this go round, all directed by singer Murray Lightburn. Still following in the sound steps of The Smiths and Joy Division, Lightburn's singing voice can be likened to that of Blur's Damon Albarn. Chegg out these solid mp3s for a taste.

Hate Then Love
You and I Are a Gang of Losers

Pre-order the new Dears album, Gang of Losers here

The Dears MySpace page

DEATH SHIPS

Out of Iowa, Death Ships first caught my attention with the track 'Little Mystery', what with the Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket echo chamber vocals, acoustic guitar and kick-in drums after the quiet lull. With some searching, I found a few other tracks by them that I think get more pop oriented, but you might still be able to find your fix.

No major distribution of the CD is available just yet (unless you live in Iowa City!) but you can send 12 dollars through paypal to deathships@gmail.com and get the hook up.

A few more tracks as well as tour dates here at The Death Ships MySpace page

Little Mystery
Symmetrical Smiles

AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD!

FILE UNDER COMICS/ILLUSTRATION/ANIMATION:
I can't figure out if this is a one-shot or a series, but Sci-Fi has the entire pilot (20 minutes!) for 'The Amazing Screw-On Head' up on their site .

Created in part by Hellboy artist Mike Mignola, Amazing Screw-On Head is a headless (duh) robot/person who is Abraham Lincoln's top spy but never made it into the history books. He is called in to investigate a kidnapping at the hands of Emperor Zombie and everything else falls into place I guess you could say. I don't think Mignola's illustration style transfers over to animation smoothly but the story is pretty good with some odd amount of funny injected into it.

Voice talent by Paul Giamatti, Molly Shannon and David Hyde Pierce (I think). It all wraps up with Lincoln signing the Homestead Act to appear as if we are interested in Western migration but is truly the cover for Amazing Screw-On Heads adventures into the West!

It says on the bottom of the site 'August 20th at Midnight' so maybe that is when the series starts...?

NEWS: Cold War Kids sign to Downtown

Via Pitchfork.

"Cold War Kids are making their way downtown. No, not Chicago, New York, or Seattle-- that's old news for the tour-crazy four-piece. This October, the buzzed-about band will release their debut album on Downtown Records, home to Gnarls Barkley, Art Brut, and Eagles of Death Metal.

Robbers & Cowards will feature 12 tracks, all which have been played on the road within the past year. Cold War Kids are on tour now, hitting up Lollapalooza this weekend and festivals in Norway and Iceland in the coming months."

It sounds like 'Robbers & Cowards' will be a collection of tracks off the first EPs and hopefully some new stuff.

Remaining Cold War Kids dates:
08-03 Chicago, IL - Abbey Pub *
08-05 Chicago, IL - Grant Park (Lollapalooza)
08-07 San Francisco, CA - Fillmore #
08-08 Los Angeles, CA - Avalon #
08-10 Oslo, Norway - OYA Festival
09-07 San Diego, CA - Casbah ^%
09-08 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour ^%
09-09 San Francisco, CA - Cafe du Nord ^
09-11 Portland, OR - Dante's ^%
09-12 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe ^%
10-21 Reykjavik, Iceland - Iceland Airwaves Festival

* with Mates of State
# with Editors
^ with Dr. Dog
% with Elvis Perkins

LIVE: BLOC PARTY in BROOKLYN

So, I am finally back from the big NYC road trip A) with my family to see B) my sister as well as take C)my friend Greg as well as D) see BLOC PARTY. All in all, a crazy trip. In my opinion, it is nuts to take a 2 year old to New York in the middle of the summer and 90 degree temps when all he wans to do is run rampant in the streets and dodge taxis. New Yorkers who do this daily, I salute you. I think all future trips will be in April or October, for starters.

The concert was pretty damn AWESOME. Not knowing a single thing about McCarren Pool, Brooklyn or traveling out there, it was pretty easy to get to and the venue was really cool. A abandoned pool fer cryin' out loud, how can you not love that. If you read any of the links below (Brooklyn Vegan, etc.), you will see a lot of people complain about the venue (I don't get it) as well as the LONG ASS LINES for beer. We attempted once to get beers but there was a line first to get ID'd and buy beer tickets and then a separate line to redeeem said beer ticket! B.S.! So, we opted for the $3 water instead.

Mew was good but I went in only really knowing 2 songs and what I heard sounded OK.
**************************************************
Secret Machines rocked and we saw Ben Curtis milling about before his set. I was a HUGE fan of their first release and less of a fan of their sophomore album but they still had a good set. I would love to see them at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland.
**************************************************
Headliners BLOC PARTY brought it just like I expected. 2 new songs, Waiting for the 7.18 (which I liked) and Hunting For Witches (which Greg liked) as well as all but 2 or 3 songs from Silent Alarm. Of course it would have been great to stay for another hour with the band - acoustic, B-Sides, new stuff - BRING IT! Unfortunately, there was a curfew and we had to follow the indie hipsters back to the subway and head home. I was very happy with the show and would definitely look forward to traveling to see them elsewhere in the future.

Some DAMN fine photos (like the one above) available at Baonguyen's flickr page. (I don't know how they got such sweet ass photos.)

Check THIS OUT for a ton of McCarran Pool pictures to get an idea of the venue.

Comments HERE and HERE.

NEW BLACK KEYS STREAM

I am a sometimes fan of The Black Keys. I really didn't even give them a solid listen til last year but when I heard 'The Brakes", I was blown away. Though my searches and listens of the rest of the album The Big Come Up didn't get me further, I still lend a ear to see what they are up to.

Here is the first available stream of their forthcoming album, 'Magic Potion', due September 12th on Nonesuch Records. Pretty cool but standard stuff for me:
Your Touch - Windows Stream

NEWS: FOUNDRY FIELD RECORDINGS TOUR DATES

If you liked the post on Foundry Field Recordings from last month, they are beginning their East Coast tour. Hit 'em up for a good show if they are in your area. No Cleveland dates yet but Cincy is on there.

08-01-06 Vaudeville Mews Des Moines, IA
08-03-06 Fine Line Music Cafe Minneapolis, MN
08-04-06 Big Horse Lounge Chicago, IL
08-05-06 Corral Room Madison, WI
08-07-06 Stained Glass Mushroom Bloomington, IN
08-08-06 The Corner Lounge Knoxville, TN
08-08-06 WUTK (in-studio) Knoxville, TN
08-08-06 WRVU (in-studio) Nashville, TN
08-09-06 Cafe Coco Nashville, TN
08-11-06 Milestone Charlotte, NC
08-12-06 Lenny's Bar Atlanta, GA
08-14-06 Local 506 Chapel Hill, NC
08-15-06 King's Barcade Raleigh, NC
08-16-06 The Red and the Black Washington D.C.
08-18-06 Millcreek Tavern Philadelphia, PA
08-19-06 191 Pacific St. Long Island, NY
08-21-06 Goodbye Blue Monday Brooklyn, NY
08-22-06 PA's Lounge Somerville, MA
08-23-06 Sin-e New York, NY
08-25-06 The East End Cafe Cincinnati, OH
08-25-06 WOXY (in-studio) Cincinnati, OH

Foundry Field Recordings website