Concerts 2010

1. Jan 21: Parachute with SafetySuit at In the Venue, Salt Lake City, UT
2. Jan 23: 30 Seconds To Mars at Park City Mountain Resort, Park City, UT
3. Jan 27: King Niko at Sidecar, Park City, UT
4. Jan 29: Brand New with Manchester Orchestra at Salt Palace, SLC, UT
5. Feb 2: Nouvelle Vague at Urban Lounge, SLC, UT
6. Feb 10: Matt Hires with Jason Castro at Kilby Court, SLC, UT
7. Feb 27: Fanfarlo at Urban Lounge, SLC, UT
8. Mar 18: Vampire Weekend at In the Venue, SLC, UT
9. Mar 28: Fishbone at the Canyons, Park City, UT
10. Apr 5: Muse at the E Center, West Valley City, UT
11. Apr 8: Passion Pit at In the Venue, SLC, UT
12. Apr 10: Miike Snow at Urban Lounge, SLC, UT
13. Apr 16-18: Coachella at Empire Polo Field, Indio, CA
14. Apr 22: Train at Gallivan Center, SLC, UT
15. May 8: U92 Cinco de Mayo Show – Tech N9ne, New Boyz at USANA Amphitheater, West Valley City, UT
16. May 8: 30 Seconds To Mars with Mutemath at Rail Event Center, SLC, UT
17. May 10: Paramore with Fun. at E Center, West Valley City, UT
18. May 11: Needtobreathe with Steven Kellog and the Sixers, Seabird at In the Venue, SLC, UT
19. May 21: The Cool Kids at W Lounge, SLC, UT
20. May 22: Local Natives at Kilby Court, SLC, UT
21. May 27: Far with Dead Country at Urban Loung, SLC, UT
22. Jun 2: The Black Keys at the Depot, SLC, UT
23. Jun 20: Cage the Elephant at the Depot, SLC, UT
24. Jun 21: Local H at Urban Lounge, SLC, UT
25. Jul 8: Modest Mouse at Pioneer Park (Twilight Concert Series), SLC, UT
26. Jul 11: Seth MacFarlane at Washington Square (Salt Lake Jazz Festival), SLC, UT
27. Jul 15: Girl Talk with Memory Tapes at Pioneer Park (Twilight Concert Series), SLC, UT
28. Jul 19: Kings Of Leon at USANA Amphitheater, West Valley City, UT
29. Aug 5: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings with Jamie Lidell at Pioneer Park (Twilight Concert Series), SLC, UT
30. Aug 11: The Temper Trap at the Depot, SLC, UT
31. Aug 12: Matisyahu at Pioneer Park (Twilight Concert Series), SLC, UT
32. Aug 13: Primus with Gogol Bordello at the Rail Event Center, SLC, UT
33. Aug 14: Deftones at the Rail, SLC, UT
34. Aug 19: Big Boi with Chromeo at Pioneer Park (Twilight Concert Series), SLC, UT
35. Aug 26: She & Him at Pioneer Park (Twilight Concert Series), SLC, UT
36. Sep 2: Vampire Weekend at In the Venue, SLC, UT
37. Sep 17: King Niko with Muscle Hawk at Bar Deluxe, SLC, UT
38. Sep 23: Phoenix at In the Venue, SLC, UT
39. Sep 28: Band of Horses at In the Venue, SLC, UT

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Twenty-Some Suggestions For Your Aural Enjoyment, Vol. 5

The latest in a series of posts about some good albums that you should check out.

Wavves King of the Beach
With equal parts Sonic Youth, Ramones and Beach Boys, Wavves makes a great summer album made for BBQs and beaches. Lead singer Nathan Williams experienced a high-profile mental breakdown at the 2009 Barcelona Primavera Sound Festival after a cocktail of ecstasy and Valium. The band also features two former members of Jay Reatard’s band. The fuzzy, yet upbeat sound of Wavves may be mildly derivative, but it is no worse the favorable comparisons to great artists. Be sure to check out title track “King of the Beach,” as well as “Green Eyes.”

22-20s Shake/Shiver/Moan
I first discovered this group when they released their self-titled album in 2004 (a great album), and I wish it hadn’t taken them nearly six years to put out the follow up. It was, thankfully, worth the wait, as Shake/Shiver/Moan is a great album. From the opener straight on through all 10 tracks, there isn’t a single stinker in the bunch. All are listenable, all are good. The band has a bluesy melodic alternative sound that is very infectious. The best songs on here are the album opener “Heart On a String,” “Latest Heartbreak,” “Talk To Me,” and the pseudo title-track “Shake, Shiver and Moan.”

Delta Spirit History From Below
The band’s unique mixture of indie and southern rock help set it apart from peers like Kings Of Leon, who are more straight ahead southern-arena rock. Delta Spirit hasn’t jumped to writing arena-sized anthems yet. Listeners will think Delta Spirit would hail from the Mississippi delta region, not the beaches of San Diego. They mix in unconventional instruments (trash can lids, etc.) to give their brand of indie rock an almost Americana feel. On this album, “White Table” is definitely the standout track, but “Salt In the Wound” and “Vivian” are also great songs.

Ratatat LP4
Probably their best album to date. The band put voice on their album for the first time, but not lyrics. There are clips of people talking in several places on the album, but the songs remain strictly instrumental. One song sounds like their is a voice as an instrument, though it is acting more as the bass line than lyrics. The song “Drugs” is definitely the best on this collection from the powerful rock duo that use only guitars and synthesizers for their albums. Fans familiar with the band’s LP3 will recognize a lot of the texture and sounds on this album as the majority of the songs here came from the studio sessions from that previous album. Other amazing songs include “Neckbrace,” “Bare Feast” and “Mandy.”

Eminem Recovery
I did a full write-up on this album previously, but I’ll reiterate a few things here. Eminem is back. That’s the long and the short of it. His last two albums were lame, and he says as much on “Talkin’ To Myself,” but he’s back to his Marshal Mathers LP self and it is refreshing. Em raps at length and in several songs about his past drug use, and he is obviously at ease with his past and his sober present. As per usual, he rips many people including Ben Roethlisberger, and shouts to his deceased friend DJ AM. The guestlist includes Lil Wayne, Pink and Rihanna among others. Rihanna is on the current hit “Love the Way You Lie,” which is a pretty amazing song. Be sure to check out the aforementioned along with “Almost Famous” and “No Love” (f. Lil Wayne).

Hit the jump for plenty more great music.

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New G.O.O.D. Fridays Track Features Jay-Z, RZA and More [DOWNLOAD]

Kanye West continues to keep to his promise of releasing a song each Friday. This week’s edition is “So Appalled,” featuring Jay-Z, RZA, Swizz Beatz, Pusha T and Atlanta startup Cyhi the Prynce.

The nearly 7-minute track includes some pretty ridiculous rhymes, and the word ridiculous quite a few times, too.

To get this and the other G.O.O.D. Fridays downloads, click here.

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Alice In Chains “Lesson Learned” [WATCH]

Alice In Chains have a new video from their latest album, Black Gives Way To Blue. The clip for “Lesson Learned” is reminicent of the Saw franchise with a little X Files thrown in for good measure. It’s dark and creepy, just like the music of AIC. Oh, and there’s a hot chick and some making out, too. Because it is, afterall, rock ‘n roll.

Hit the jump to check it out.

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Stone Temple Pilots Suspend Tour Following On Stage Rant

Stone Temple Pilots, yet another band to reunite from the 90s, have suspended their tour following a strange and uncomfortable rant by lead singer Scott Weiland at a Houston gig on Sunday. The suspended shows include dates in Houston, Oklahoma and several in the southeast. The tour will reportedly start again on October 8th in Tampa, Florida.

The rant that many are looking at as the catalyst for this break took place mid-show in Houston and covered Weiland’s addiction to heroin, that he’s started drinking again, and his divorce. This coming only days after the singer fell on stage and amid rumors that he’s lip-syncing.

Hit the jump to hear and watch it for yourself.

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Foo Fighters Five Step Lesson On Tape Editing [Video]

Foo Fighters are working on a new album, and the band has been tweeting from the studio. Tonight @foofighters posted a series of tweets that started with this gem:

What followed was a series of videos that are both educational and comical. Hit the jump for the full series.

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Sufjan Stevens and His Record Label Don’t Get It

In a recent email to fans, Sufjan Stevens’ record label, Asthmatic Kitty, spoke poorly of Amazon.com‘s practice of lowering the pricing of certain albums. Often Amazon will price an album at $3.99 (and sometimes lower) in an attempt to drive traffic to their website and also to compete with the behemoth iTunes store. In the email, the label stated that their artists’ music is “worth more than a cost of a latte.” Well, I disagree.

With this practice Amazon is getting the music of Stevens, and countless other artists that have been featured, into the hands of consumers that would not otherwise listen to the album. The artist is still getting paid as though the album were selling at full-price, so it isn’t that the artist and label are losing money on the deal. Only Amazon is, and in bringing traffic to their site with discounted albums they hope to sell other products and recoup their losses.

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Soundgarden’s New Video Will Have Metalocalypse Fans Salivating

90s rock stalwarts Soundgarden will release a career retrospective later this year titled Telephantasm. On that collection is a new-old song “Black Rain,” which comes from the band’s Badmotorfinger sessions. As a Soundgarden fan, I really like the song. And now I really like the video, too.

The animated clip was directed by Brendon Small, co-creator of the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse. In the video a shadowy Soundgarden, draped in Emperor Palpatine-style robes are conspiring to take out Dethklok, the fictitious cartoon band from the show. Will they be successful where so many have failed before them? Only one way to find out.

Hit the jump to watch the video for “Black Rain.”

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Kanye Makes Another G.O.O.D. Friday [Download]

This one really should be called a G.O.O.D. Saturday track as it was released early this morning rather than on Friday, but we won’t hold that against Kanye West and his cohorts.

The latest in Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Fridays “leaks” is an epic seven and half minute opus titled “Lord Lord Lord.” Featuring Mr. West along side Mos Def, Swizz Beatz, Raekwon and Charlie Wilson of the Gap Band it features each rapper letting us know just how awesome they are.

Here’s what Pitchfork had to say about it:

Over seven and a half minutes, all these guys get arrogant over a mellow and contemplative track, and Kanye gives us this classic Kanye-ism: “If I’m a douche, then put me in your coochie.” Also: A rare opportunity to hear Swizz delivering a straight-up rap verse, rather than just playing hypeman on his own hyperactive beats.

Download the song here.

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PlayStation Move Kills Mii

You’re no doubt familiar with the Nintendo Wii and the avatars one can create. Those avatars are ingeniously called a Mii. (Pronounced Me.) Well, now Sony has created a similar gaming control as what you would use with the Nintendo Wii, and they call it Move.

My good friend Dave McGrory shot and produced a viral video for the PS Move called “PlayStation Move Kills Mii.” It’s a pretty slick clip, and I want you to watch it, comment on it, and share it.

I’ll give you each a cookie if you do.*

What do you think?

*No actual cookies will be distributed, but thanks for playing along.

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