Yakuza Heart Attack

I think I have more than a few prog-happy friends that will be interested in this last post of the evening. Proggers Yakuza Heart Attack will be releasing their sophomore album called Yakuza Heart Attack II off Squids Eye Records on Oct 22 but below you can snag three of the tracks absolutely free. These tracks provide the perfect background for your latest WoW conquest or hitting up the old school Mario Bros (I'm talking to you, Nate).

Yakuza Heart Attack - "Scarlet Moon"
Yakuza Heart Attack - "Power Surge"
Yakuza Heart Attack - "Tears of the Judge"

Described by PopMatters as "[L]ike Weezer trapped inside a Gameboy and knowing that rocking is the only way to break out", Yakuza Heart Attack certainly can inject some game into your playlist. There's no guitars, but plenty of synth, and plenty of fun for all.

More about Yakuza Heart Attack at their MySpace page

The Melvins Chicken Switch remix album out now

It's been a looooooooong time since I last listened to The Melvins, but in fact, my very first CD purchase ever was The Melvins Stag back in 1996, so I feel obligated to mention that they've got a new remix record called Chicken Switch out in store for you to checkout.

Chicken Switch track listing and remixers:

01 Washmachine Sk8tronics (Remixed By Eye Yamatsuka)
02 Emperor Twaddle Remix (Remixed By Christoph Heemann)
03 She Chokes Her Dying Breath & Does It In My Face (Remixed BY V/VM)
04 AAHHH... (Remixed By John Duncan)
05 Linkshänder (Remixed By Matmos)
06 EggNog Trilogy: I) She's Ivanhoe, II) Cancer, III) Inebriated (Remixed By Lee Ranaldo)
07 SNOW REM REM IBVZ (Remixed By Merzbow)
08 Prick Concrete/Revolution M (Remixed By David Scott Stone)
09 Queen (Electroclash Remix By Panacea)
10 The Silky Apple Butter Of Youth (Remixed By Sunroof!)
11 4th Floor Helicopter (Remixed By Kawabata Makoto)
12 disp_tx_skel_mach_murx (Remixed By Farmersmanual)
13 Overgoat (Remixed By Void Manes)
14 Over From Under The Dog, Girl & Boy Treatment (Remixed By RLW)
15 Hard Revenge Milly Bloody Battle VS. The Melvins Ozmatized Gore Police (Remixed By Speedranch)

If you've never listened to The Melvins I can't guarauntee you won't hate it, but you can check out one of the tracks, "Queen (Electroclash Remix by Panacea)" below:

The Melvins - "Queen" (Electroclash Remix by Panacea)

More info available at The Melvins site

Stream the Where The Wild Things Are Soundtrack Free

The kid in us still remembers way back when we first read Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, so we're pretty excited to catch Spike Jonze's rendition when it hits the theaters in October. We also love the trailer featuring Arcade Fire's "Wake Up."

I was a little disappointed to find out that Arcade Fire really isn't on the soundtrack but when you have an entire soundtrack of Karen O (from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and "The Kids" I guess you can't complain.

The soundtrack is available for purchase now, but if you want to preview it first you can head over to imeem and after registering and going through the usual advertising clicks you can stream the entire album for free. Make sure you check out the track "Building All is Love," our favorite of the bunch.

If you want to avoid registering at imeem you can just head over to Stereogum and stream it there.

Tapes n Tapes music video for "Hang Them All"

We're eagerly anticipating the upcoming Minneapolis tour stop for Tapes n' Tapes and we'll be in the Cities on Oct 3 to catch their sold-out show at The Turf Club in St. Paul.

If you missed their appearance on Conan, you can check out the music video for the track "Hang Them All", directed by Jonnie Ross, below:



If you're looking for that Conan appearance you can see the video of that at the band's website as well.

Concert Announcement: Pete Yorn, The Majestic, Madison, WI - October 27

Pete Yorn will be swinging through Wisconsin this fall for a show at The Majestic in Madison on Oct 27. If it's been a while since you've caught up to speed with Yorn, you can stream some tunes at his website.

Pete Yorn Tour Dates

Oct 19 – Granada Theatre - Lawrence , KS
Oct 21 – The Blue Note - Columbia , MO
Oct 22 – Rococo Theatre – Lincoln , NE
Oct 24 – Bluebird Nightclub – Bloomington , IN
Oct 25 – Newport Music Hall – Columbus , OH
Oct 26 – Vogue Theatre – Indianapolis , IN
Oct 27 – Majestic Theatre – Madison , WI
Oct 29 – Intersection – Grand Rapids , MI
Oct 30 – State Theatre – State College , PA
Nov 1 – Ridgefield Playhouse, Ridgefield , CT
Nov 4 – The Hart Theatre at the Egg – Albany , NY
Nov 5 – Electric Factory, Philadelphia , PA
Nov 8 – Amos End, Charlotte , NC
Dec 5 – KBCO Radio show, FOX Theatre, Boulder, CO

Monsters of Folk debut album drops tomorrow

If you're heading out to your local record store tomorrow to peruse the new releases might I suggest you grab yourself a copy of the debut album by Mosters of Folk. The super-group collaboration of celebrated rockers M.Ward, Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis plays like a really great concert encore - where various crooners take the stage, each bringing their unique talent to a larger, deeper pool - swimming with delightful sounds.

You can stream three of the tracks at the Mosters of Folk website. We recommend starting with "Say Please."

Bike Naked for the Flaming Lips in Portland

Just add naked... and maybe a little TLC?

If you're an avid nudist, or a cyclist, or heck, just live in Portland, like to get naked, own a bike, and dig the Flaming Lips, then you've got a chance at appearing in their music video for "Watching the Planets" off their Embryonic record.

[Flaming Lips lead singer] Wayne describes the scene, saying that the idea came from the musical, "Hair": "You know how it's a bunch of freaked out naked people climbing some mountain with blood and fire and finding some new civilization there-- so I thought of Portland, right?"

BikePortland has all of the info for anybody who's interested in participating. Here are the basic details:

Flaming Lips naked bike video shoot
Wednesday, September 23, 10am - 10pm (drop-in)
The top of Mount Tabor, by the basketball courts
No RSVP needed. Just show up wearing clothes, please.
For more information, contact: bikeforthelips@gmail.com

Musical Notes: Mystery of Two, Says Shes Ms. Blat, and Bishop Allen

The Office is back. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is back. Community seems like it might work. All in all a good night of television for once. But we've got a few quick musical notes for you as well:

Mystery of Two

...is a Cleveland rock group that is actually 3 people - Nick, Ryan, and Jeff. The "not quite post punk, not quite new wave" band just released their second album and would like you to have a listen to a few of their tracks, below. If you like their stuff, you can snag it on their MySpace page.

Mystery of Two - "French Rocking Horse"
Mystery of Two - "Repeat It"

Says Shes Ms. Blat

...is Lottie Leymarie on keys/vocals and Bret Puchir on percussion and their sound is powerful and thudding. Think pop, but raw, heavier - more Fiona Apple & Lucinda Williams than Norah Jones. Stream it here.

Bishop Allen

...is coming to Madison Nov 2 @ arguably the best smaller venue in the city, The High Noon Saloon. See you there? Peep the rest of their tour dates here.

Sunday Morning MP3 - The Good Graces - "Pretty New Song"

Atlanta indie folk minimalists The Good Graces, who we profiled in a previous post, recently released a new song titled "Pretty New Song," which comes off the Bring on the Tambourines! EP scheduled to drop later this month. For a sneak preview, you can snag the song for free below, courtesy of the band and Eskimo Kiss Records:

The Good Graces - "Pretty New Song"

As the band mentions on their website, keep your eye out for other great tracks from the EP as they appear sporadically on the album's website. Currently (as of this morning) you can go there to snag a free mp3 of the track "I Miss the 90's".

If you miss out on any of the tracks you can pick up the album when it drops Sept 29.

Heartless Bastards + Wolfmother on tour

Big day for us as we kick off a solid 12 hours of football coverage, from ESPN's Sunday Countdown at 10 am CST to the end of the Packers-Bears game around 10pm. We are literally giddy with anticipation. If you're laying some money on the games you might want to see what the folks at ESPN think of the predicted outcomes.

Like a lot of others out there we recently jumped on the Heartless Bastards bandwagon and haven't gotten off. Now comes word that they will be touring this fall in support of blistering guitar rockers Wolfmother. The Wolfmother dates will kick off in Dallas, TX, on October 29th and come to a close on November 24th in Los Angeles, CA. Sadly, no Wisconsin dates. Peep the schedule below:

Heartless Bastards tour dates:

09.24.09 Oberlin, OH Dionysus Club
09.25.09 Cincinnati, OH Grammers Bar
09.26.09 Columbus, OH The Basement
09.30.09 Tyler, TX Clicks
10.01.09 Houston, TX House of Blues - Bronze Peacock
10.04.09 Austin, TX Zilker Park

On tour with Wolfmother:

10.29.09 Dallas, TX House of Blues - Dallas
11.02.09 Atlanta, GA Tabernacle
11.03.09 Charlotte, NC The Fillmore Charlotte
11.04.09 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
11.06.09 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
11.07.09 Boston, MA House of Blues - Boston
11.08.09 New York, NY Terminal 5
11.11.09 Toronto, ON Kool Haus
11.12.09 Pontiac, MI Clutch Cargos
11.13.09 Chicago, IL Riviera Theater
11.14.09 Minneapolis, MN State Theater
11.16.09 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
11.17.09 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot
11.19.09 Portland Roseland Theater
11.20.09 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
11.21.09 Vancouver, BC Queen Elizabeth Theatre
11.23.09 Oakland, CA Fox Oakland Theater
11.24.09 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern

New single from Los Campesinos!

The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future from Los Campesinos! on Vimeo.

We're really excited by the lastest single from VLM fav Los Campesinos! We had a chance to catch them down in Madison and it was a stellar show. They'll be touring the UK in October, but in the meantime, you can check out the single and video for "The Sea Is a Good Place to Think of the Future" above or if you want to download the track and keep tabs on the band you can do so over at their website.

Portland Cello Project

The wife and I rented The Soloist last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. It also got me to thinking I need to get back to listening to classical music and playing instruments more often... it would help had we not sold my violin a few years ago back when we were jobless to help pay for rent, but even just listening once in a while would be a step in the right direction.


The Portland Cello Project isn't classical per say, but they're classically based and the softer side of me is really enjoying their track with singer Thao Nyugen called "Tallymarks" which you can download below courtesy of Riot Act Media:

Portland Cello Project featuring Thao - "Tallymarks"

Since the group's inception in late 2007, they have performed with a veritable "Who's Who?" list of Portland musicians, from Laura Gibson to The Dandy Warhols, Horse Feathers, Mirah and Loch Lomond, just to name a few.

The group's newest full-length was released on June 9th, 2009 on their new label, local independent Kill Rock Stars and includes such diverse pieces as a Pantera cover and a solemn religious piece by John Tavener.

At live shows, their repertoire can consist of anything from Metallica to Horse Feathers to Britney Spears to Bach.

The Portland Cello Project earns every penny from ticket sales and sales of our CD’s and Tee-Shirts, so get out of the house, break out of your usual music mold, and support the group if they are appearing anywhere near you:

October 2009
15 - Santa Barbara, CA @ SoHo
16 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
17 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Crepe Place
21 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
22 - Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey -
23 - Vancouver, BC, Canada @ The Biltmore Cabaret
24 - Spokane, WA @ Empyrean Coffee
27 - Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
28 - Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall
29 - Urbana, IL @ The Canopy Club
30 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle
31 - Detroit, MI @ The Cafe at the Majestic Theater

November 2009
1 - Toronto, ON, Canada @ El Mocambo
2 - Montreal, QC, Canada @ Il Motore
3 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Downstairs
4 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
5 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
6 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat
7 - Richmond, VA @ The Canal Club Downstairs Lounge
9 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
11 - Houston, TX @ The Studio at Warehouse Live
12 - Austin, TX @ Mohawk
13 - Ft Worth, TX @ Lola's
14 - Lubbock, TX @ Jake's
17 - Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
18 - Tucson, AZ @ Plush
19 - San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
20 - Pomona, CA @ The Glass House

You can learn more about the Portland Cello Project at their website and stream a few tracks to boot.

Labor Day with Corduroy, Zombies, and the Flaming Lips

We're here enjoying our orange juice and Labor Day and figured we'd pass along a few tunes for you should you need a little something for your backyard barbecue soundtrack this afternoon.


First up is Toronto rock four-piece Corduroy, who I just had to check out since they are named after my favorite Pearl Jam song. Ok, not really, but that'd be cool, right?

At first listen we were reminded of another group of fellows that we sure like, Tokyo Police Club. And with influences such as Pavement and Arcade Fire its easy to see the resemblance. Then again, there's a lot of good music that comes out of Canada these days (see: Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade).

Anyways, Corduroy are going to be releasing some three song EPs, called Demoroys. The Demoroy's will be available for free download on the band's Myspace and on a Pay-What-You-Can basis at shows. Demoroy Volume 1 will be available for free download tomorrow, September 7th. But lucky you can download a sneak preview for free below, just in time for today's festivities:

Corduroy - "The Lighthouse Keeper"

Zombies!

If you're interested in male nudity (ass) and zombies, then check out Chickenhawk's new video "I Hate This, You Like This?" over at YouTube. It's fleash-eating fantastic, to say the least.

Shot in four days over a three week period, the Chickenhawk music video/zombie epic pulled together hundreds of people and created a community based blood fest that Leeds had never seen before. The project was designed to not only be a vast scale, but living(dead) proof that a high level of film production can be achieved with a small budget, as long as you keep your hanging eyeballs on the cash and the ambition.

And lastly, if you hadn't heard the new Flaming Lips song for "Trembling Hands" you can do so over at I Guess I'm Floating. It's been around a while (since June) but it was the first I'd heard it. Their new album, Embryonic, will be out on October 13.

Blogger by day, mustache aficionado by night?

Not that you probably care because there's no music or mustaches involved, but if you want to check out the things I'm paid to write about from 8am-5pm every Monday thru Friday then head on over to our recently debuted pet blog and check out my posts there. Lots of good information and stories.

The Danvilles

The only thing better than Aaron Rodger's sporty new mustache and the return of college football this evening was my wife's meatless lasagna. I ate so much I could put Garfield to shame. Hopefully I'll be putting that mustache to shame as well since I don't plan to shave between now and Halloween so that come Oct 31st I can shave my Zach Galifianakis like beard into a John Astin-as-Gomez Addams mustache.

Watching the tail end of the Packers-Titans preseason game after dinner I ran across the Musebox Featured Artist of the Week, The Danvilles. I hadn't heard The Danvilles before tonight but that's a shame - the track I got to listen to tonight ("The Man That Never Was") was polished and scrappy, and reminded me a bit of Tapes N' Tapes, who I'll be heading to The Cities to see on October 3rd.


According to the press release, The Danville's debut EP, Number One, was

"recorded over a single weekend {...} always destined to be more than a simple LP. Their first burst of creative energy would also spawn even more imagination in the old friends, who cobbled together a companion video EP of short films, inspired by the gloomy Edgar Allen Poe. Of course, we’d expect nothing less from a group that got their start when he was required-reading in English class. If only we could have bonded over Dick Dale and old punk royalty with somebody in our 4th period, then maybe we’d be putting out records too."

If you haven't heard The Danvilles, you can check out the standout track "The Man That Never Was" below, or head over to the band's MySpace site to stream some additional tracks and check out the videos mentioned above. We recommend the folksy "I Ain't No Jesus" which we could easily see playing as the credits run on a future True Blood episode.

The Danvilles - "The Man That Never Was"

THE LOVELY FEATHERS - Lowiza

This landed in my inbox today and was easily one of the most interesting music videos I've seen as of late. Sultry, artsy, and fun... just like a music video USED to be.

Learn more about The Lovely Feathers at the band's MySpace page