MMJ on 9/6/08 @ Bank of America Pavillion...

Omigod. I know I know, Radiohead played the best concert I'd ever seen, but after hearing these guys live, I'm having second thoughts. The WHOLE band of My Morning Jacket is so friggin' tight in concert, just, everybody in the band is like this powerhouse of awesomeness. I had of course seen them once before, at 'Roo, but it was pouring rain (well it was this time too, but there was a pavillion) and kind of miserable. Also, when we saw them at 'Roo we were very far back, and this time, some kind couple willingly gave us their VIP tickets!! So, here we were (me and my dad) 4 rows back, and Jim-James was just taking to the people while he was playing! It was sick. Other than that, went to Portsmouth 2day and got Minutemen, two Against Me! 45s, and Arctic Monkeys 10 in. Good times.

New iPod

The new iPod looks pretty promising! I'm actually thinking about getting one. I hadn't gotten one before (I took my mom's old mini and had the 1st ever till it broke ) because I never liked them. the first shuffle I liked but they were gone in a day, the second shuffle stinks (too small, less songs) the first nano was awesome but that was gone to in a short time, the nano after that was just ugly, and now there's this one. I really like this! It's only 150 bucks for an 8G (2000 songs + some movies) and its the same as the awesome first nano except bigger screen. Plus, you turn sideways for coverflow, shake it to shuffle, and press the center button for an immediate list of songs you might like based on what your listening to. Finally! A good mp3 player that's not too expensive.

Update: Nirvana Post

I just read an excerpt about Nirvana from a book by manager Dan Goldberg (Bumping Into Geniuses: My Life In The Rock n' Roll Business). I guess Dan (I think that was his name) asked Kurt if he wanted to stay with Sub-Pop and he said that he wanted to reach a wider audience... therefore changing to David Geffen Co. Also, Johnny Rotten said (on nirvana reaching the top of the charts) in an interview "Nirvana has done what the clash and the pistols could never do". Sounds like a good book.

The Slip

I'm kind of late posting this, but oh well. Nine Inch Nails have lived up to expectations (or mine at least) by releasing another brilliant... and free, album, The Slip. It's good to hear Trent's voice again (jk, I loved Ghosts). So, to continue on the Radiohead vs. NIN post, apparently in an article (in some newspaper) Reznor claimed he would never do exactly the same as RH because he "didn't wan't people telling him how much he was worth". I can see where he's coming from but just because someone chooses to pay a buck for your music, doesn't mean they aren't into you. They could just be cheap (ha ha). I get the impression that most Radiohead and NIN fans tend to be pretty loyal to their favorite artist. Thank you very much *bows*.

Black Cab Sessions

I got these videos (the website link), the Black Cab Sessions, by e-mail. Check 'em out. An idea conceived by Hidden Fruit production and filmed by Just So Films, A cab rides around London picking up great bands everytime (is it off the street? MMJ, Spoon, yeah, right). Everything from Spoon, and My Morning Jacket, to the New Pornographers, and Martha Wainright. You can click here for the site. In the meantime, here's Spoon playing "I Summon You"

RE: American Idol

Remember that earlier post about how I thought some American Idolers were cooler and better than they seemed? I take it back. THEY'RE ALL LOSERS!

Radiohead @ Comcast Center

Radiohead put on the most amazing concert I'd ever seen at the Comcast (Tweeter) Center on the 13th in Mansfield, MA, with an opening by the band "Grizzly Bear". Radiohead is on their "green tour (no big hot stage lights, merch made of recycled bottles)" and the light show, with long fluorescent colored rods hanging from the ceiling, was beautiful, yet interestingly simple. The thing was, Radiohead didn't need flashing lights to make them sound/look cool. They went on and on starting with the "Reckoner" and going through the concert with an amazing array songs, some of them extended and changed, like an acoustic "Faust Arp". In the encore, Thom Yorke played piano for a song (cymbal rush) from his solo album, The Eraser. The concert ended on "Idioteque". Highly satisfying. And the best part you ask (not really)? Johnny Greenwood wore a big, bold NO AGE shirt. Their new album, Nouns, by the way is spectacular and much more evolved from Weirdo Rippers.

Black Keys Orpheum Theater

The Black Keys played Orpheum Theater... A major breakthrough from Boston's Avalon where I had seen them put on a great show two times in a row. The show opened with the Buffalo Killers (an interesting band with some great lead vocals), friends of the keys, and throughout the concert Dan Aurbach played the Buffalo Killer front man Andrew Gabbard's guitar. The seats were filled with true fans. The band played a wide variety of songs ranging from the Big Come Up to the newly released album Attack and Release (produced by danger mouse). Only dissapointment was we didn't get to hear all the banjos and other exciting stuff on the album (although he did play organ for a bit). The encore went on for 3 songs. Everyone went home happy, yet I still think that now that they are gaining popularity I'm going to miss seeing a rock/blues band like them play in a cool smaller club like avalon.

RADIOHEADandNINEINCHNAILS

Okay, this might be a little to much too handle but in case your not into it already, Radiohead copied Nine Inch Nails. Well, actually, Nine Inch Nails copied Radiohead.... First, Radiohed developed the "pay what you wish" system for In Rainbows (I payed four pounds), which inspired NIN to give their instrumental album "Ghosts I-V" out for free (great album with some nice relaxing stuff). Now, just a short while after Radioheads fame in the press went down, Radiohead copied NIN by creating a remix widget (a sick-nastiful little treat first developed by NIN) where fans can buy parts of songs and make their own remixs of them on garageband or face-book. To be very presice though, Radiohead are only allowing fans to download and remix one song (Nude) while NIN gave out bits and pieces of many songs which were taken away, screwed with, and put back onto the website for people to enjoy. Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead should preform together. Not only do they inspire things in eachother but they seriously would sound good on the same stage.

Pseudo Bassist Has a Sick Blog

The bassist in my band Pseudo has a sick blog called "House of Rock". It's not just about rock but it's pretty neat. Click right here for the link. Clayton (the drummer) also has a blog but I'm not entirely sure if he still updates it. I just wanted to post about Liam's blog (Liam you owe me).

There Will Be Blood/Jonny Greenwood/Popcorn Superhet Reciever

It is now commonly known that Jonny G. of Radiohead went classical (well, he was classically trained) but did you know he also made the whole soundtrack for the Oscar winning movie "There Will Be Blood"? The soundtrack is on iTunes (don't go to Limewire your robbing your favorite artists) and I am still trying to find "Popcorn Superhet Reciever" on CD. That's his own classical piece that he composed. There was a great, very descriptive article about him in New Yorker mag. a while ago by Alex Ross. Look it up. Also, check out the Radiohead website or "Dead Air Space" . It's really weird if you go to the Scrapbook page.

No Age in Spin Mag.

Hi. I subscribe to Spin magazine and in the R.E.M issue this month they had put a No Age song in the top 20 something list. I wrote about No Age in an earlier post. Their album "Weirdo Rippers" is out. By the way, R.E.M did an amazing job with "Accelerate". Usually when a band comes back and makes new stuff after four years they tend to make a slower album. This was not true for Rapid Eye Movement.The title is quite fitting. Other albums out are the new Raconteurs and the new Black Keys. The Raconteurs one is good but the lyrics are LAME with a capital L! The melodies are sweet but the lyrics are just Jack White having a fun boy time without Meg. Far less sophistacated than "Broken boy soldiers". Then there's "Attack and Release (Keys)" with it's cool sort of sci-fi thing going on. It was recorded with Danger Mouse (as opposed to in a tire factory) who does Gnarls Barkley!

American Idol

Sometimes when I see the American Idol shows I wonder why some of them are on the lame competition. A few of them are really good singers, and they're indie and stylish. They honestly could just go and start a band and find gigs at clubs and instantly become famous but they choose to become immediate sellouts. I just wanted to say that because it was annoying me.

Vampire Weekend

The prep-punk band Vampire Weekend managed to get themselves a cover on Spin Magazine. Plus, they get to play at Bonnaroo. Vampire Weekend has come a long way in an extremely little amount of time. Also, in that month of Spin (I think it was March) there was an article about Stephen Malckumus of Pavement touring with some other band... I'll have to check that out.

Bonnaroo '08

Well, the lineup has been announced and as dissapointed as most people are I'm actually pretty satisfied. Metallica shouldn't be there, no brainer, but Kanye West... we'll have to see ('cause he is among the most artful artists of the hip-hop crowd). Pearl Jam will be amazing along with B.B. King and My Morning Jacket (holy hell this is great). Then You have Led Zeppelin and while they may not be in the line-up on the website everybody knows by now that they are scheduled to play ('roo spokesperson had no comment... ha ha) because it has been leaking around the internet for a while and is pretty much confirmed. That would actually be very exciting condidering Plant/Krauss will play also. Bonnaroo has done a good job of keeping their "indieness" strong until now but I totally respect that they are trying to expand the range of bands playing. I started going just last year in '07 but didn't camp which I want to do this year. See you at 'Roo.

Raygun Magazine

When I was recently looking through some old, dusty stuff in the basement I happened to come across a huge stack of old Raygun magazines. Pretty cool. Raygun truly was an amazing magazine. I've been reading every single one and as confusing as the misspelled letters and upside down pictures (among other insane things) are they sure do seem to make a strong and clear statement of style and independence among other music magazines of the time. There are articles of the Flaming Lips, Pavement, David Bowie, The New Bomb Turks, and some other strange cool bands. It upsets me that just because they were different (and were making a statement) they were forced by the majority of haters in the population to stop printing great magazines. R.I.P

Sonic Youth-Rather Ripped

In 2006 indie rockers Sonic Youth released yet another album "Rather Ripped". Sonic Youth were actually part of the commotion at the start of the independent rock underground in the 80's and 90's. Aside from "Daydream Nation" and "Experimental Jetset (which I have on blue vinyl)" this is in the bunch of amazing insane albums they have made. Sonic Youth are a band who aren't afraid to experiment with anything. Take "Goo" for example, who but Sonic Youth would make a song repeatedly saying "Hey goo whats new? woohoo!" I rest My case. Sonic Youth could be called the gods and godess (Kim) of indie rock (even in their 40s). They are currently doing a "Daydream Nation" tour.

Vinyl

To all those people discovering and rediscovering vinyl LP's... Rock On. To be specific on why I dig records, the sound is so much warmer and exciting than the CD, it's amazing how cool some of the super sized album artwork can be, and the mainstream hasn't caught on to it completely yet (Newbury Comics sells LPs). Also, most anything you can find on CD is bound to be on record. Before I get carried away I have to mention 45's. Recently I got an incredibly sick-nasty box set of EP's (45s) from UK bands like "The Fall", and "Chelsea". The whole thing is recorded by Step-Forward records in 2007. Records, vinyl, LPs, 10 inch, whatever you want to call them... Records rule.

Look What Happened...

...to Nirvana. "Slaughterhouse Records" the studio MTG is considering recording with just so happens to be responsible for recording Nirvana's very first album "Bleach" (it was released on Sub-Pop). Look how far Nirvana got. I'm not saying I don't like Nirvana's other albums (I love them) but the album Bleach is so much more pure and exciting and new and weird and not mainstream all at the same time. I've been desperately trying to get my hands on it for a while. I consider it strangely above "Nevermind" but not as good as "In Utero". In the early days nobody had any clue who Nirvana was so the got away with recording this "legendary" album for about 600 bucks in a matter of days. As mainstream as they may have or have been considered as, they were one life changing band... even today.

No Age

Here is what I call an interesting band. They're called "No Age" and they are actually decent.Here's the link from New Yorker and a brief segment of the article itself:

www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2007/11/19/071119crmu_music_frerejones?current
Page=1

"Now the punk-rock phase—which was also a golden age of skateboarding, the primary recreation for L.A. punk rockers—has been reborn in an appealingly communal form, thanks in large part to a local club called The Smell, to a noisy and often brilliant duo called No Age" ©new yorker 2007

It truly is a good article and an OK band.

My Band

Just wanted to write a selfish but important second post. My band "Mind the Gap" whom I mentioned in post #1 are some serious indie rockers. We listen to everything worth listening to and have quite a few very original songs. We are considering recording soon or starting a serious label in the basement (if we can pull together a thousand bucks). We are currently self-filming a documentary.

The U.I.A

Yeah, that's been done before... anyways, the "Underground Indie Appeal (or United Institution of Anarchy)" is a newly created blog where a bunch of novice hardcore rockers can grab a life ring and not drown completely in the dreaded "Mainstream". Check in regularly for all kinds of good new and upcoming bands and media. This Blog is an extension to "MIND+THE+GAP", my band's blog. It is controlled by the same people.