Archive - Jan 2010

If there was one thing that excited me leading into the new year, it was the thought that Hot Chip were set to release a new LP in the first quarter. I've only had the chance to see the British electro-wierdo's once before, and I had the best time of my life getting down to their set. Their last LP, Made In The Dark, is my go-to album for inciting a dance party, and has been one of my most spun discs since its release in 2008. Just yesterday, the fine folks at EMI sent me an advanced copy of Hot Chip's upcoming release, One Life Stand, set for a February 1st shelving. After first listen, I'm already stuck, and can see this one winding up as one of my top album's of 2010. With the album, they also sent over a link to the latest video for their first single, "One Life Stand." The music is great, but I can't get enough of video, and its cheesy 80's feel. It finds them jamming out in a green striped room centered with a spinning 360° camera and surrounded by a bunch of spirals added in for a heightened cheese factor. I want to hang out with these guys some day – on psychedelic drugs.

Hot Chip have only announced a handful of dates in the U.S. so far, but one of those is a highly coveted slot at the 2010 edition of Coachella. Hopefully, if the stars align, I'll be able to traverse the southwest all the way to the California desert to take in that set, along with a whole bunch more stellar offerings over the course of the three day event. If not, they better freaking come to Houston!

We are giving away 2 pairs of tickets to see Yo La Tengo at Warehouse Live on Thursday, January 28th. Columbus, OH lo-fi indie rockers Times New Viking will also be on hand to hold down the supporting duties of the evening. YLT are headed to Houston in support of their most recent kick-ass album Popular Songs, and should rock the stage in Warehouse Live's Ballroom for a solid couple of hours. All you have to do to win is leave a comment below with your full name and either a valid e-mail address or telephone number in which you can receive text messages. It's that simple. If you do not leave a way to contact you, you can't win, so follow the rules damnit! We'll announce the winners the day of the show, both on the website, as well as through e-mail or text. This should be a freaking great show, as it was quite a treat the last time Yo La Tengo were in Houston. That show is the reason I'm in love with the band in the first place. What would be sweeter than seeing it for free? I can't think of much...

If you don't think you're feeling lucky, or have a bigger group than a pair of tickets can sustain, feel free to purchase as many as you'd like at Warehouse Live's official ticketing site for the event. $20 is still not too bad for such an incredible band.

It takes a whole lot for me to drive all the way up to Dallas just to catch live music (I can only think of one other time I've done it, actually, and that was for Radiohead), but when I found out that The Avett Brothers where coming through Texas, but skipping Houston altogether, I had to figure out my best plan to catch them. That was back in September, when The Avett's were originally supposed to play Granada Theater in Dallas' Arboretum, close to downtown. Unfortunately, some guy named David Letterman decided he wanted to expose them to a national audience on his television program, but the day he wanted them to guest was the same day as their show in Dallas. I received this news two days before I was about to see them at Outside Lands, so it didn't really disappoint me at all because it gave me a few months in between shows rather than just two weeks as originally planned. My friends, though, they were not too happy. Bacon, Mrs. Bacon, Hash Browns and a few others in our group were very displeased that it would be another four months before they'd have a chance to see them, but with the extended wait period, it made this show even a bit more special for all – anticipation was busting out of the Granada's seams in the moments leading up to their performance.

Read all about the show, and check out a ton of Hash Browns' incredible photos after the jump.

I should have posted this a couple days ago, as The Sour Notes finished their tour a while ago, but I'm finally getting to it. The final post from the "On The Road" series finds the band leaving New York City, and headed home with stops in Nashville, Fayetteville and the final tour stop in Dallas. This time Eric Morales feeds us the intro, but the closing words belong to frontman Jared Boulanger, as he recaps his time on the road. Thanks to The Sour Notes for being my guinea pigs in the first of (hopefully!) many "On The Road" series to come. You guys provided some excellent coverage over the past few weeks!

Check out The Sour Notes' last mile after the jump.

Alas, the drab winter has surely taken it's toll on us Midwest dwellers. Endless days spent in an ice chest will have that effect from time to time, and now that it has been gloomy and foggy for the past week, Seattle syndrome will soon set in. Well luckily, thanks to our good friends over at Rad Kadillac, a slew of shows have taken over the south eastern corner of the good life state, allowing us to cease writing out suicide notes. That takes us to Sunday night, as a sold out all ages crowd at Slowdown in Omaha, NE played host to Keller Williams, which may have been the only ounce of sunshine I'll see in the month of January.

Thanks to the always generous folks at the Granada, we are delighted to be giving away TWO pairs of tickets to see one of Dallas’ best live acts: the inimitable Reverend Horton Heat at the Granada Theater this Saturday, January 23. For over 20 years, the right Reverend has been spreading the gospel of psychobilly with humorous lyrics, ripping guitar, and an intense live show that shouldn’t be missed. His most recent record is an immensely pleasurable throwback to an earlier era of Texas country, and, when sprinkled on top of the band’s classics during a Saturday night hometown show, should make for a helluva fun night.

Check out a few live videos of the Rev in action, and enter the ticket contest (winners selected randomly on Friday) by leaving a comment with YOUR NAME and CONTACT INFORMATION (EITHER AN EMAIL OR PHONE NUMBER) in the comment. If you don’t give us a way to contact you, YOU CANNOT WIN. And if you don’t want to risk getting shut out, head over to the Granada website to pick up some tickets.

Galaxie 500

Psychobilly Freakout

With only a few days left on the road, The Sour Notes made their most high profile stop at The Cake Shop in New York City. Their short tour served mostly as a warm-up for the NYC show, and by the sounds of it, it went over quite well. Eric Morales, who's been serving somewhat as the bands documentarian, fed us another host of paragraphs about their time in The Big Apple. He also had the time to put together a few video clips of their travels earlier in the tour, mostly on the road from Atlanta to Baltimore.

Check out Eric's words, photos and videos after the jump.

Here it is folks. I'm finally posting the rest of my decade list for all eyes to enjoy. I'm not sure if you'll agree with my choices overall, and you might think that they mimick some of the other decade lists you've seen over the past couple months. I really don't care though, because they are my choices – my favorites. I have changed my overall scope on music over the past ten years, and I believe my choices do a good job in representing that. The decade began with a love for hip-hop, moved on to jambands, into the realm of indie rock, and finally ended with a solid mix of all three dominating my airwaves. These three genres have defined my past ten years, and have provided me with a stellar soundtrack through my first adult decade.

Check out my 25 favorite albums of the decade after the jump.

Another year has come and gone, and with that brings the beginning of festival season. I freaking love festival season! Many people are starting to make their spring, summer and fall plans, and because of that, festivals are now starting to announce their initial line-ups. Usually one of the first to announce their list of bands, Wakarusa has revealed to first group of names that will be taking over the festivals six stages throughout the weekend of June 3rd to the 6th. Included in the initial line-up are a slew of electronic, jam, bluegrass and roots bands who will be playing till all hours of the morning at Mulberry Mountain, the festivals second year at the Ozark, AR mountaintop venue. Topping the list are two electronic-based instrumental groups Sound Tribe Sector 9 and The Disco Biscuits, bands that are very similar in stature and genre, with both having a pretty die-hard following. Also making their way to Wakarusa for the 2010 event are reggae rockers Slightly Stoopid, Australian roots group John Butler Trio, harmonica master John Popper and 90's alt rockers Blues Traveler and the first appearance of Zappa Plays Zappa after the torrential downpours canceled their set at Waka in 2007.

Check out the initial line-up after the jump!

As we continue our On The Road series with Austin band, The Sour Notes, we check back in with documentarian Eric Morales. Eric brings us a nice recap of their time spent both on and off the road from Carrboro, NC all the way through their night off in Baltimore, MD. He's quite the writer, and I'm happy to have his words, photos and video here on BOT – check out his On The Road tour diary after the jump.