Ani Goodies

http://www.spinner.com/2007/10/19/ani-difranco-brings-her-canon-to-the-interface/

Electric 6, Gore Gore Girls @ Club Underground

The Gore Gore Girls are kick ass! I'm so glad I got to see them open for Electric 6 on Monday night. These ladies know how to rock it hard and are damned sexy doing it!! They are on Bloodshot Records, they have a website http://www.goregoregirls.com/, and of course, they are on the space. Look 'em up and get your lady rock on!! Here is the set they played and some snaps from the show ... click to enlarge.

<

This is the second time I've seen Electric 6 and they have yet to disappoint me. They're just a good timey balls to the wall rock band. Their set list and a few pics from the show.

Bravo to Club Underground for bringing this show! I am diggin' their fall schedule, check it here. http://www.clubunderground-reno.com/calendar.htm

Oslo

Thanks to Tristen for the Oslo cd and getting me on the list to see the band play at XOXO last Saturday night! We got to XOXO a little after 9 pm and Oslo was setting up. I noticed on the door that Oslo was billed as members of No Doubt. I wonder if the other members of the band have issues with being billed this way; maybe they don’t care if it brings people to see them. Things that make you go hmmmm.

I got Oslo’s cd The Rise and Fall of Love and Hate about a week before this show, it is a decent release. I listened to it twice during the week, I enjoyed the tracks: Slowdive, Things Fall Apart, and Crowded Room. The disc began to wear on me about half way through sounding like the same repetitious drone. I was hoping to be more impressed with the live show, and I am happy to say that the band sounded crisp and exhibited less drone.

The lead singer is quite a character; he makes some god awful facial expressions, and does some very fancy tongue wagging (not creepy) along with the songs at times. He entertained me. The rest of the band seem very diverse musically; the bass player was very-low end, and he has some badass dance moves combined with the typical bass player rubberneck (I love that, by the way). The drummer was stuck in the corner of the small XOXO stage so I didn’t see much of him. The lead guitar player had a High on Fire shirt on and he looked very metal. The guy on keys was great; he looks like he stepped right out of the tv series Fame. My girlfriend loved his looks; she kept singing the Fame soundtrack in my ear. All in all, seeing Oslo was a good time; it’s nice to check out new music, and support up and coming bands that come through Reno, as it doesn’t happen often. I think there are good things in store for Oslo, check them out on the space.

myspace.com/oslo

TMBG Pics

Empire Events Center ~ Sacramento ~ 9/28/07

Sea Wolf ~ Leaves in the River

I received a copy of the new Sea Wolf cd Leaves in the River in my mailbox yesterday, a big thank you to Tristen at Filter! I’ve given the disc a few spins now, and am thoroughly enjoying it. It is more of an evening time cold weather cd than a background noise at work cd, but even hearing it on the computer at work has been a pleasure. I am looking forward to hearing it with headphones, as it sounds very layered and intricate with many textures that computer speakers are not doing justice. I quickly fall for vivid lyrics and Alex Brown Church is a masterful lyricist. Throw in the lovely sounds of the cello and accordion, and you’ve hooked me. I have only one critique of the lyrics so far, in the track Song for the Dead the rhyming of thicket and cricket kind of makes me chuckle, forced rhyming is one of my least favorite lyrical tricks. Other than the one lyrical hiccup the lyrics set an enticing blustery fall scene, and bravo to whoever chose October to release this cd.

I enjoy the imagery Church creates in the title track, Leaves in the River, listening to it during a midday lull whisks me out of my stuffy office. It takes me to my house, just past dusk, I start out my front door bundled up in my big coat, three warm and wooly scarves, and I start down my street with leaves rustling at my feet. I’m headed to get a nice hot cup of coffee at a local shop where the windows are fogging up, and this song is the perfect soundtrack for my walk. Any cd that can transport me out of my work environment into a joyful fall evening is a winner in my book. I look forward to spending more time with this cd on many wintry nights to come.

José González

I caught José González performing on Conan last week, go to YouTube, I'm sure it's there. I have to say I was sorely disappointed. Maybe it was the girl singing and (mis) clapping along with him in the most disengaged manner that ruined it for me. I was quite surprised by how much I disliked the performance. I have enjoyed his music since I first heard Veneer. His guitar playing can be astoundingly beautiful at times, and I am generally a fan of the singer-songwriter "quiet is the new loud" folk musician type, but found his live performance to be horribly boring!

Some pals of mine are going to see him at the GAMH later this month, they are the ones who turned me on to him, I am very eager to hear their take on his live set. Sitting through an hour and a half to 2 hours of what I saw on Conan makes me want to curl up for a long winters nap. No sir, I didn't like it, and I am glad we decided not to attend this show.

The National Setlist

They Might Be Giants

There is no "might be" about it, they ARE giants!

They played a great set that put me in a fantastic mood. I'd like to see someone go to a TMBG show and come out in a bad mood. Impossible!

Two tidbits I didn't know before the show. #1 ... The new record is a collab with the Dust Brothers, makes sense when I listen to it after knowing that. #2 ... That song New York City is a cover of a Cub song. Who knew?

The new record is a gem, the art work is superb!

They were selling the vinyl copy of the new album autographed by the whole band. Very clever idea to get folks to buy that format. It worked on me, not like I am a hard sell though.

If TMBG are coming to your town soon, do yourself a favor ... GO!

The Johns rule!

Street Teaming for Lost Highway

I've been street teaming for Lost Highway for about a month now. It's been a treat thus far! I am truly enjoying it. They have already sent me about 9 promo discs to listen to, posters to hang, stickers to give away, postcards to distribute, even some clear rolling papers to pass out. Rolling papers - what a brilliant promotional item! They have been a huge HIT here in Reno. Hi-O!

Skye is my contact at Lost Highway, she has been very helpful and extremely nice. If I need anything she is instantly on top of things and is very accessible. If you love music, have time to hang posters, and pass out stickers then I highly recommend you get into contact with Lost Highway. They treat you right. After I completed distributing my first big batch of promo merch they sent me 2 Ryan Adams records, one was orange vinyl. I almost peed! Okay I did pee, but just a little.

Here are just a few Lost Highway artists that I have had the pleasure of promoting thus far:

Ryan Adams (Easy Tiger is in the running for my top 20 of 2007)

Donavon Frankenreiter

Mary Gauthier

Golden Smog

Lyle Lovett

Fionn Regan

Lucinda Williams (West is in the running for my top 20 of 2007 as well)

For more Lost Highway artists and goodies, go here:

http://main.losthighwayrecords.com/

The Good Life in Reno! 10/31/07

It is my humble opinion that everyone should buy tickets for this show and spend at least a portion of you Halloween with The Good Life at Club Underground. The show has yet to be listed on Club Underground's site, but I did get a confirmation from someone on The Good Life's myspace site, that indeed they will be playing Reno on Halloween!

Their new disk is Help Wanted Nights, check it out.

Okkervil Pics

As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t love this band, you’re a damned fool!!!

Okkervil River just blew my mind! I saw them at the Independent in S.F. on Wednesday night. It was, by far, the best show I have seen all year, and I’ve seen some damned good shows this year. Do yourself a favor, go buy The Stage Names, and then go buy Black Sheep Boy, and then by the rest of the back catalog. Will Sheff has an amazing voice. He writes beautiful and heartbreaking lyrics. The artwork on their albums is just as lovely as the music, done by artist William Schaff.

Here is an article with Will about performing live and how important it is to him.
http://www.alibi.com/index.php?story=20282&scn=music

Here are a few photos, and another glowing review of the S.F. show, taken by a fellow blogger at http://hippiesaredead.blogspot.com/.

http://hippiesaredead.blogspot.com/2007/09/09-05-2007-okkervil-river-storms.html

I snapped about 10 photos all night long. They are still trapped in my camera; if any of them are decent I’ll post them here next week along with the set list I got. For now, check out these links and go listen to Okkervil River!

Wilco Pics

Beastie Pics

For other Beastie goodies from the Berkeley show check-ch-check-ch-check-check it out.

http://mic-to-mic.blogspot.com/2007/08/beastie-boys-live-at-uc-berkeley.html