December Starts With A Bang

The holidays are definitely coming early to us here in IA land. In just the first few days of the month, some great acts are playing shows in the area. Check out some of the highlights:

If you don't have your tickets for the back-to-back Vampire Weekend and The Teenagers shows Monday and Tuesday at 9:30 Club, assume the position and find the usual shady means of getting your way in. These shows are completely sold out. In the mean time, enjoy the videos.





Illinois is back at it with Chapter 2 of The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe. The four city swing starts in DC at DC9 Tuesday night. If that is not enough to get you out, Jade Tree artist Snowden and fellow Georgia group Twin Tigers round out the line-up. This show is my pick for the week, a definite killer.

mp3: Illinois - She's So Blond
mp3: Twin Tigers - If
mp3: Snowden - Anti-Anti

Most country/alt-rock is average, pretty much all the same. There is something different about The Everybodyfields from Johnson City, TN. Maybe it's the great combinations of vocals and instruments or just my love for a great pedal steel. Over at HearYa, they recorded a great studio session.

mp3: The Everybodyfields - Gun (via HearYa)

Wednesday, you make the call. At Sixth & I, Yeasayer. Up in the NW, Dr. Dog plays the 9:30. Tough choice. Flip a coin, play One Potato, Two Potato, whatever you have to do to make up your mind. Glad I don't have to make that choice.

mp3: Yeasayer - Sunrise
mp3: Dr. Dog - Ain't It Strange (Daytrotter)

The rest of the beginning of the week shakes out like this:

Monday 12/1

Mittenfields/Looselips/Teeedo @ Black Cat
Sebastian Grainger/Josh Reichmann @ Johnny Brenda's (Sebastian Grainger mp3)
Little Dragon @ M Room (more Swedish pop!)
Federal Reserve Presents @ IOTA

Wednesday 12/3

The Modern Society @ The Khyber
David Byrne @ Grand Opera House (Wilmington)

Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend - credit
Vampire Weekend has a couple of sold out shows in the region over the next few days. You can check them out at DC's Rock and Roll Hotel tonight and at First Unitarian Church in Philly tomorrow. Sam Rosen will be joining them for both dates.

Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
Sam Rosen - Soul Shakedown Party

Vampire Weekend on Letterman

This past Friday, Vampire Weekend was the musical guest on Letterman and treated the audience to "A-Punk". Check it out below:

This Week's Releases

Wow, I don't know what to say about the quality of this week's list of music. I would say it's amazing, but I don't think that encapsulates the staggering amount of great music ready to travel to your ears. I think you will just have to listen to it to try and understand how good this batch really is.

I don't have a pick for this week, I have five. Luckily they are all different types of music, so I don't feel bad about not being picky enough. First we have our favorite Afro-pop group, Vampire Weekend. I'm sure many of you have heard at least half the album already and the rest of the album is just as good and really compliments itself from beginning to end. The next two releases are local area bands The Shackeltons and Jukebox the Ghost. Joe posted an interview with the Shackeltons and the album lives up to everything said about it there. Jukebox has never failed to disappoint and with this release, we finally have an epic full length to listen to over and over again. We also have an interview with them for you to check out.

Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend - "A-Punk"

The Shackeltons

The Shackeltons - "Your Movement"

Jukebox the Ghost

Let Live and Let Ghosts - "Good Day"

The final two picks should be better known bands to everyone. Up first, The Helio Sequence have released their forth studio album and get better and better with every release. The eloquence and beauty of this release surpasses any of their others. The band stretches their collective creative talents to produce something everyone will find immensely pleasing to the ears.

The Helio Sequence

Keep Your Eyes Ahead - "Keep Your Eyes Ahead"

Finally, we have a new disc from The Mars Volta. Classified as progressive rock, psychedelic rock and experimental rock by many, I would like to add "tastefully loud" and pure rock pleasure. This album is not for anyone who cannot stand noise coming at them in the form of 5 to 9 musical instruments all at the same. However, for those of you who can muster the eardrum exploding (in my opinion, it has to be higher than regular volume to get the full effect) music infusion, you are getting a real treat. The band was recently in Baltimore and should be back in the area later in the year.

The Mars Volta

The Bedlam in Goliath

Other Notable Releases: In addition to those five, there are several other releases worth mentioning this week. These picks include the excellent new disc from DC's own, Thao and The Get Down Stay Down.

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down (from DC)

We Brave Bee Stings and All - "Beat (Health, Life, and Fire)" Full Album Stream

Chris Walla

Field Manual - "Sing Again"

Xiu Xiu

Women As Lovers - "I Do What I Want, When I Want"

Murder Mystery

Are You Ready For The Heartache Cause Here It Comes - "Love Astronaut"

The Bell

Make Some Quiet - "On and On"

Louis XIV

Slick Dogs and Ponies - "Guilt by Association" Full Album Stream

This Week's Mix

Not much to say this week. Stay warm and enjoy good music!

Wax Tailor - Que Sera
Onili - Sentimental
Colin Munroe - I Want Those Flashing Lights (Kanye West Cover)
VHS Or Beta - Can't Believe A Single Word
Trembling Blue Stars - Idyllwild
West Indian Girl - All My Friends
The Russian Futurists - Let's Get Ready to Crumble
Peachcake - The Winter Song
Vampire Weekend - Boston
Of Montreal - Requiem For O.M.M.

This Week's Releases

There are so many releases this week, it's crazy. We even have EPs and singles to go along with our usual assortment of great LPs. Get ready to spend some time listening to great music and then break out those pocketbooks and get ready to spend some dough.

I must be in an electronic mood these days, because my pick for this week is Holy Fuck's newest apply titled LP. After seeing these guys open for !!! this past summer, I was blown away and instantly tried to find out all I could about them. Their sound is similar to Battles, but they are unique enough to keep the bands pretty separate. With great beats and synth, their songs will be stuck in your head for days. Head over to their MySpace page to stream the entire album.

"Lovely Allen"


Another favorite of mine this week is Soft's Gone Faded. I have featured a song off this album before in my weekly mix, because of how much I really enjoy listening to this album. A band that had been off my radar prior to this album, they have really cemented themselves in my list of great releases this year.

"Dumb Blood"


One of the great singles released this week is by up and coming Vampire Weekend with Mansard Roof. This two song single contains "Mansard Roof" and "Ladies of Cambridge." These guys are making heads turn all over the place and are getting more followers every day as more and more people discover them. Their self-titled debut album should be out in January and this single gives you a little taste of what it's going to be like.

"Mansard Roof (live @ KEXP)"


It seems like plenty of artists that I have featured in my mixes are releasing albums this week and this band is no different. Yeasayer has their debut album out finally, called All Hour Cymbals. A mix of rock and electronic similar to the Animal Collective, this group has been gaining recognition throughout all the indie scenes. These guys were featured on a KEXP live in-studio performance at CMJ last week. They were not selected for a podcast, but give "Sunrise" a listen to see what I mean.

"Sunrise"


This next group is one that I had not heard of before, but I am glad I found them. West Indian Girl has their latest with 4th & Wall. This is a superb album and I can't stop listening to it. The music, the harmonizing voices along with some great lyrics really make this CD amazing. A fun album with a great upbeat sound is really hard to pull yourself away from.

"To Die In LA"


Other notable releases this week:

Ween

La Cucuracha: "Your Party"

Ryan Adams

Follow the Light EP: "Down In A Hole (Live)"

Saturday Looks Good to Me

Fill Up the Room: "Make A Plan"

Black Dice

Load Blown: "Kokomo"

Babyshambles

Shotter's Nation: "Delivery"

The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir

The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir: "Aspidistra"

Phosphorescent

Pride: "A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise"

The Warlocks

Heavy Deavy Skull Lover: "So Paranoid"

Vampire Weekend Session

Vampire Weekend has been one of the best discoveries of 2007. Leave it to the fabulous Daytrotter to bring them in for a session featuring some brand new tracks.

Bryn
I Stand Corrected
M 79
Oxford Comma

Vampire Weekend in Philly

Photo by Esther White
Making a sojourn down I-95 tonight to The Manhattan Room in Philly, is New York's fabulous Vampire Weekend. They head back north after that, so get there and check out one of 2007's breakout bands.

Oxford Comma

Thursday in Philly

Before you all come down to DC for our Birthday show on Friday, make the trip to Philly Thursday and check out a great line up at Johnny Brendas. Tokyo Police Club and Ra Ra Riot are moving up the east coast, this time joined by Vampire Weekend.

Tokyo Police Club - Nature of the Experiment
Ra Ra Riot - Can You Tell
Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma

As an alternative, check out The Fire for the band that played for them Tuesday in DC, one of the District's hottest bands, Jukebox the Ghost.

Jukebox The Ghost - Hold It In

This Week's Music Mix

Since I am going away for the weekend, I won't be able to post my normal weekend mix. Instead of waiting until Monday to post it, I will post it today! I have been getting a lot of new music and listening to many different things, but these are all songs that I have playing on repeat on my mp3 player:

1. Vampire Weekend - A-Punk
2. The Vita Ruins - Godspeed To That Polytheist
3. Sigur Ros and Mob Deep - Untitled Shook Ones (Emancipator Mash Up)
4. Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have To Leave It
5. Iron and Wine - Boy With A Coin
6. Zulu Pearls - Half Hearted
7. Fields - Charming The Flames
8. Film School - On & On
9. Wild Sweet Orange - Ten Dead Dogs
10. Ra Ra Riot - Each Year
    
11. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Isis (Video Shown Below)<hype machine>

I have two local bands in there, The Vita Ruins and Zulu Pearls. The Vita Ruins played an amazing set last Friday at Black Cat and Zulu Pearls are having their CD Release Party this upcoming Tuesday at the Rock & Roll Hotel. I will definitely be attending this show and I highly recommend it! Enjoy the music and I will be back with a lot more next week.

Friday Again

It's been a weird week. I swear that it feels like we already did this Friday thing once. Well, it's back and we really can't complain. Anyway, DC definitely has some shows to check out tonight.


Let's start off with a big local show at Black Cat. In what could considered a version of who's who in DC's indie scene, Georgie James, Middle Distance Runner and These United States share the bill. If you try hard enough, you just may run into me at this show.

Since I shared some video of the 2-piece version of These US last week, here is the full band version that I promised to follow up with. This footage is from January of this year.


These United States - Jenni Anne



These United States - So High So Low So Wide So Long


Georgie James - Need Your Needs
Middle Distance Runner - Man of the People
These United States - We Go Down To That Corner (Live)


Several really good NYC bands are playing The Red and The Black tonight. Vampire Weekend, Hymns and Sean Walsh & The National Reserve will all be in town for what should be a great show.

Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
Hymns - Stop Talking
Sean Walsh & The National Reserve - Float


The excellent Baltimore band AVEC will be at Warehouse Next Door. They're out on a mini-tour in advance of their new CD that is coming out this fall.

AVEC - 16 Minus 71


For those of you that want to hang out in Virginia tonight, local favorites The Sketches will be playing at IOTA. Boston's All These Kings and Philly's The Flood will be providing support.

The Sketches - Secret Alphabets
All These Kings - I Can't Remember
The Flood - Talk