03/01 Boston, MA – Newbury Comics (Newbury Street store)
03/02 Washington, DC – Red Onion Records and Books
03/02 Baltimore, MD – Sound Garden
03/04 Philadelphia, PA – AKA Music
03/08 Brooklyn, NY – Academy LPs (with Northampton Wools)
03/08 New York, NY – Generation Records
03/08 New York, NY – Other Music
03/10 Ithaca, NY – Castaways (with J Mascis)
03/11 Toronto, Ontario – The Great Hall (Canadian Music Fest) (with J Mascis)
03/12 Kingston, Ontario – The Mansion
03/13 Burlington, VT – Monkey House
03/14 Milford, CT – Daniel Street
03/19 Austin, TX – Ground Control Showcase at Auditorium Shores (SXSW)
03/22 Brattleboro, MA – Headroom Stages (with J Mascis)
03/23 Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live (with J Mascis)
03/24 New York, NY – Mercury Lounge (with J Mascis)
03/25 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg (with J Mascis)
03/26 Boston, MA – Brighton Music Hall (with J Mascis)
03/28 Red Hook, NY – Bard College
03/29 Pittsburgh, PA – Andy Warhol Museum
03/30 Cleveland Heights, OH – Grog Shop (with J Mascis)
03/31 Ann Arbor, MI – Blind Pig (with J Mascis)
04/01 Chicago, IL – Subterranean (with J Mascis)
04/02 Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry (with J Mascis)
04/03 Iowa City, IA – The Mill
04/05 Gambier, OH – Kenyon College
04/06 Nashville, TN – The End
04/07 Atlanta, GA – The Earl (with J Mascis)
04/08 Athens, GA – Melting Point (with J Mascis)
04/09 Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle (with J Mascis)
04/10 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle (with J Mascis)
04/21 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
04/22 San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
04/23 Portland, OR – Bunk Bar
04/24 Seattle, WA – Sunset Tavern
04/25 Vancouver, British Columbia – Waldorf Hotel
05/11 Berlin, Germany – Festaal Kreuzberg
05/15 Utrecht, Netherlands – Tivoli
05/19 London, England – Corsica Studios
05/20 Liverpool, England – Sound City Festival
05/21 Glasgow, Scotland – Stag & Dagger Festival @ Captains Rest
05/25-29 Barcelona, Spain – Primavera Sound Festival
06/30-7-3 Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival
If the headline above fills you with questions, questions such as ‘why would I write to the FCC?’ or ‘what’s KUSF?’ or ‘isn’t the Belle And Sebastian plug kind of gratuitous?’, well, allow me to answer the first two.
The condensed version: KUSF is the University of San Francisco’s community radio station, and has been since 1977. That means they’ve been around almost as long as The Fall (though I don’t think they’ve had as much staff turnover). Last month, USF secretly sold KUSF’s transmitter, abruptly took them off the air, and kicked everyone out of the station, with plans to transition the place to an Internet-only concern. Not surprisingly, KUSF’s DJs and staff, almost none of whom had any notice of the sale until they were escorted from the premises, think that’s a pretty fucked up thing to do, and we agree with them (as does Ty Segall).
By now you may be wondering what you can do to help KUSF get back on the air and back to being the incredibly valuable community resource it’s been for over three decades. Well, as the title of this post states, today is the LAST DAY that you can write to the FCC urging them to stop the sale. There are succinct directions on how exactly to do so posted HERE.
Additionally, the exiled KUSF volunteers have set up a Paypal account for people to donate toward their legal fees. Generous souls can open up their pocketbooks HERE.
Finally, if you love Twitter as much as I do, you can get breaking news by following KUSF’s Twitter account, which is HERE.
Justifiably acclaimed for his work as an illustrator, Marcellus Hall is best recalled by some of us as the ridiculously talented vocalist/guitarist/songwriter whose recordings and performances fronting Railroad Jerk and White Hassle were some of the best things about living in New York City once upon a time. That said, Hall The Musician still has numerous tricks up his sleeve and as such, we’re happy to pass along the news that Issac Brock’s Glacial Pace label has released a new Marcellus Hall LP/CD/digital album, ‘The First Line’. Our copy is in the mail, but we’re gonna vouch for the musical contents, anyway. Not a month goes by that someone — often a rather famous musican (or an extremely good looking woman) — asks us, “just what is Marce Hall up to these days?” and the opportunity to give an answered more informed than “how the fuck should I know?” is no small cause for celebration.
In announcing more details about their 2011 incarnation, The Creators Project have revealed an exciting partnership with Interpol to commence officially at this year’s Coachella festival in April. Details are scant, but the partnership promises “a new visual experience to match (the band’s) live set” and, given Interpol’s historically epic live productions, it’s safe to assume this is going to be something special.
As the centerpiece of their announcement, the Creators Project debuted the short film “Interpol on Interpol“, an unprecedented look at the band’s history and creative process, with special emphasis on last year’s fantastic self-titled album (buy the album here). Take a look:
April
Wednesday 13 – Reno, NV – Knitting Factory
Thursday 14 – Sacramento, CA – Crest Theatre
Friday 15 - Indio, CA – Coachella
Sunday 17 – Tuscon, AZ – Rialto Theatre
Monday 18 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theatre
Wednesday 20 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom
Thursday 21 – Austin, TX – Austin Music Hall
Friday 22 – Helotes, TX – Josabis Amphitheatre
Sunday 24 – Kansas City, MO – The Beaumont Club
Monday 25 – Memphis, TN – Minglewood Hall
Tuesday 26 – New Orleans , LA – House of Blues – New Orleans
Thursday 28 – Tampa, FL – The Ritz
Friday 29 - Miami Beach, FL – Fillmore Miami Beach
Saturday 30 – Lake Buena Vista, FL – House of Blues – Lake Buena Vista
May
Monday 02 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
Tuesday 03 – Charlotte , NC – The Fillmore Charlotte
Wednesday 04 - Raleigh, NC – Disco Rodeo
July
Tuesday 05 – Chicago, IL – Soldier Field Stadium
Friday 08 – Montreal QUE, UE – Hippodrome
Saturday 09 – Montreal QUE, UE – Hippodrome
Monday 11 – Toronto ONT, NT – Rogers Center
Thursday 14 – Philadelphia, PA – Lincoln Financial Center
Sunday 17 – St. Louis, MO – Busch Stadium
Wednesday 20 - East Rutherford, NJ – New Meadowlands Stadium
Saturday 23 – Minneapolis, MN – MN TCF Bank Stadium
So Crazy Eddie’s opened it’s doors 40 years ago (1971 for the math impaired) in Brooklyn, New York. Today, and TODAY ONLY, Amazon MP3 and Ted Leo are offering up his critically lauded and commonly embraced, album from last year, The Brutalist Bricks, for just $3.99. Yes you read that right, $3.99. Coincidence? Probably (thanks Wikipedia), but that really misses the point…YOU’D BE CRAZY NOT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS. Visit Amazon today for a great deal!
Also for all you West Coasters, remember that Ted’s one man show is headed your way this week. For other parts of the country he’ll see you in April + May.
And we’re also pleased to announce that Ted will be performing at SXSW, solo style, as well:
Sun, 3/13 – The Mohawk – Barbarian Group/Stumble Upon Party
Mon, 3/14 – Venue 222 – Wearcast Party
Wed, 3/16 – The Swan Dive – Brooklyn Vegan Showcase
Thu, 3/17 – French Legation Museum – Other Music Day Party
Fri, 3/18 – The Mohawk – Flower Booking / Onion A.V. Club / Canvas Media Party
This thiyal is an adaptation of a Keralan shrimp recipe. The curry is made with a dark, sour sauce of toasted grated coconut, tamarind and browned onion. Like many Keralan dishes, it is anointed at the end with an oily stir fry of dried red chiles, curry leaves and mustard seeds. It’s deeply complex & satisfying.
The original recipe is for seafood which makes me wonder whether it didn’t call for kodampoli (also known as “fish tamarind”) rather than regular tamarind. The recipe comes from Maya Kaimal’s Curried Favors, which doesn’t ever call for kodampoli though it is a common ingredient in this part of India.
I served it with spinach pachadi from the same book. This is a failsafe recipe – easy and delicious. The coolness of the yogurt plays off the spiciness of the chiles. The earthiness of the spinach and curry leaves permeates the entire mixture.
Perhaps you’re not aware, but long before I rose to the ranks of Matablog editor / label co-owner, I dabbled a bit in the wild world of music press. Back in the go-go 1980′s, I wrote for publications including (but not limited to) High Wire, The Wayland Town Crier, and of course, Smegma Journal. During that period, I had the good fortune of covering such emerging, pioneering acts as the Little River Band, Nantucket and The Sickness.
So it’s with that body of work (probably part of an Experience Music Project exhibit, if not an entirely new wing someday) in mind, that I’d like to help you, the mystified, befuddled rock fans of today, make some sense of what modern music journalists are banging on about. For instance, when Uncut’s Louis Pattison writes of Kurt Vile’s ‘Smoke Ring For My Halo’, “the real heart of this record seems to lie in the moments of stillness and rest, where strung-out slackerdom attains an almost sacred quality”, what the layperson might not understand is that Mr. Pattison is really trying to say,“THIS IS THE GREATEST RECORD OF 2011 SO FAR AND IF YOU DISAGREE, I’M GOING TO HIT YOU WITH A SHOVEL”.
Likewise, when Mojo’s Stevie Chick might cause some casual readers to scratch their heads with his thoughts regarding ‘Smoke Ring’ (“while the melodies and vibe seem to be channeling lost AM radio transmissions from the ’70′s, Vile’s no relic-treasuring throwback, finding a unique, laconic voice of his own amongst the tangle”), the Rock-Criticism-To-English-Translator ™ generates the following ; “it is a work of total genius, to only purchase one copy would be a crime against art, beauty and the human spirit.”
Of course, our good friends from the British monthlies aren’t the only ones prone to bouts of understatement, and that’s why you’re so very lucky I’m here to make sense of yet another Kurt Vile rave, this one coming from Pitchfork’s Jayson Greene, who argues ‘Smoke Ring For My Halo”‘s “Ghost Town”, “churns along in a similar weightless middle space as Wilco’s ‘I Am Trying To Break Your Heart’ but instead of Jeff Tweedy’s earnest napkin poetry Vile gives us muttered, inscrutable darts, a series of private jokes for an audience of one.” What Mr. Greene wanted to testify was actually, “Kurt Vile’s prose has molested my mind. And I was asking for it.”
It’s been my pleasure to walk you through the intellectual mine field that passes for record reviews, and who knows? The next time one of these analysts is beating around the bush, I’ll not hesitate to assist, particularly if it can put the work of Kurt Vile in a deserved, wider context.
Later this week Fucked Up will be needing to change up their winter wear for something a little cooler as they head down to the summery southern hemisphere as they join the Soundwave Festival around Australia. Seeing as they’re going to be around that neck of the woods they’ll also be heading over to Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore to sample to sites and play some shows.
After completing a whole load of north american dates, Kurt Vile (and the Violators) will be heading over to Europe for 3 weeks worth of shows, starting early May and taking in headline shows and festivals, including Primavera Sound, Stag & Dagger and Liverpool Sound City festivals.
Ahead of the release of the new album ‘Smoke Ring For My Halo’ Pitchfork have previewed the album track ‘Ghost Town’ naming it best new music – you can head there now to hear it for yourself.
