Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Caribou Tour Diary: O Columbus



It's weird to live in a town that has artists on the bubble. You see these people go from playing shitty dive bars to bigger venues. They go on tour and come back with interesting stories. You read about them on blogs and they get front page and cover photos in your local free weekly. It's weird. What's even weirder is to be in a different town and hear music from your home town being played and danced to by people you don't know.

We played in Tucson last night. It's a nice town very similar to where I went to high school (Kent, OH). There are two kinds of people here: hippies and college kids. It's pretty funny, actually. Anyway, after the show we hung out with some kids at an apartment. Walking into the place I head a familiar music that I soon realized was Psychedelic Horseshit, a band from Columbus, OH. I was a little confused. It sounds so cliche' but it's so hard to realize how much of an impact your local scene is making in music when you're living it. Columbus, OH is such a humble town. There are so many bands doing big things but you wouldn't know it if you saw any of these people. The music from the guys in Psychedelic Horseshit, Times New Viking and Pink Reason is a true representation of their lives. It's not sugar coated one bit. Dirty, grimy with an optimistic and fun overtone to it.

At home, I see these guys all the time sitting at Cafe Bourbon Street arguing about silly stuff and getting drunk and laughing with each other about how fucking cold Columbus is in April. I've never been so proud to be a part of that.

It's funny that it took me hearing a Columbus band hundreds of miles away from home to really understand and appreciate how great of a scene our town has. Seriously, though. It's so hard to gauge what's going on in your town until you leave. As far as we're all concerned we're just making music because it makes us happy. We don't know what the hell is going on outside of the city limits. It's fun to tour and we all want more people to listen to our music but at the end of the day we're just having fun and excited to go to Carabar and see each other every weekend. You'll see Blueprint talking with John from El Jesus De Magico about whatever. Envelope and Wes wildin out at a Weedsteeler show. Daymon Dodson running merch at a CDR show. We've got such an incredible thing going!

I'm sure that anyone can read this and say similar things about his/her home town. These are just my thoughts. I love Columbus, OH and regardless of where I end up I will represent that town to the fullest.

Long Live Daymon Dodson!

cheers!

ahmed
the replacement drummer

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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Carl and Ted wear shorts!


Shout Out Louds played an acoustic version of "Tonight I Have to Leave It" at the Spin Pool Party at Coachella. Video here!

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nyctaper posts Big Dipper Audio!

image from nyctaper via flickr

The NYCTaper recorded and posted the entire Big Dipper show at Southpaw last weekend! It's 100% free (though he nicely asks you support the bands, and we agree) and available in mp3 and, if you ask nicely, FLAC. Get the MP3s here!

Order your copy of Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology here.

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Monday, April 28, 2008

AMC Live Review: Celine Dion & San Francisco

photo courtesy of Tim Bugbee

American Music Club live review via The Big Takeover.

American Music Club are on Tour!

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Friday, April 25, 2008

Friday Fica


Shout Out Louds are over for Coachella this weekend, and if you are far far away from the desert like we are, here is a video from Uncensored Interview from when they were here in March. More snippets from the interview are here!

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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Caribou Tour Diary: Goodbye Canada, Hello Mt. Rainier


We've completed all of our Canadian dates. It's funny... I didn't really think that Caribou shows in Canada would be as crazy as they are. I have never been playing in a band that sold out a string of shows let alone one. To say the least, Canada treated Caribou very very well. I met a lot of people and we had some of our best shows to date. The ferry ride from Vancouver to Victoria was absolutely beautiful. We spotted a couple of leopard seals. The endless scenery of pine trees stacking on top of each other, packed together so tightly on small islands was so gnarly.

We were in Seattle last night. A lot of my time was spent looking outside at Mt. Rainier. If you are not familiar with that mountain I have attached this blog post with a picture of Mt. Rainier. It is single handedly the most ominous looking land mass in the west coast. I mean, look at it! You cannot take your eyes off of it at all (read previous post about my obsession with large things). I am totally going to kick this mountains ass one day and climb it. Sure, it's an active volcano and if it blows up it will completely wipe me and the entire city of Seattle out but at least I'll get to say that I kicked Mt. Rainier's ass.

The Seattle show was great as was the KEXP radio session that we did. Right now we're in Portland. We're playing at a place called the Doug Fir. It's a log cabin.... .No seriously....

Pretty excited for the upcoming dates. I have yet to go swimming on this tour and We'll be in California starting tomorrow. I have a rule that I must at least swim in one ocean while on tour. We missed our chance in Florida because I was fine tuning all the drum patterns I had learned the previous days. We did, in fact, get a chance to visit the city of Gibsonton while in Florida. Gibsonton is the town were all the carnies and circus freaks would live during the off season. Several of them have retired and live there to this day. Apparently the post office in Gibsonton has a midget desk and the city has an ordinance allowing residents to keep elephants and circus stuff on their front lawns.

That said, I was totally expecting to get into town and see Lobster Boy, The Alligator Man and Percilla the Monkey Girl hanging out drinking mimosas on some front porch. I didn't see such a thing at all. Granted it was a Sunday but still... That's when I would be drinking mimosas on some front porch.... wouldn't you?
Post office was closed, the tallest man in the world's restaurant "Giant's Camp" was out of business and the closest thing to elephants that we saw were a couple of elephant ear candy trailers so it was some what of a let down. But it's ok. We ran into a park called "Nature Park" located right next to a giant smoke belching silo. That was kind of funny.

Things have been amazing. The guys are treating me as one of their own. I'm very blessed to be in this position. More to come...

Ahmed
"the replacement drummer"

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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

She & Him on Conan


Video of questionable quality on youtube in case you missed it!

Great photos from the Webster Hall show last night at Prefix.

She & Him will be on the The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 28.

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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

She & Him relocate show & appear on Conan!


After postponing last night's show due to illness, She & Him have relocated tonight's show to Webster Hall and are honoring all tickets from the Hiro Ballroom shows.

Check out the Pitchfork interview and don't miss She & Him on Late Night with Conan O'Brien tonight, too!

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Big Dipper on the Late Risers' Club!



WMBR's Late Risers' Club had special guest Gary Waleik on the show this morning! You can listen to an archive HERE!

Big Dipper reunites later this week! Don't miss it!
04.24.2008 * Hoboken NJ @ Maxwell's
04.25.2008 * Brooklyn NY @ Southpaw
04.26.2008 * Cambridge MA @ Middle East Downstairs

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Monday, April 21, 2008

Caribou Tour Diary!


hello everyone.
my name is Ahmed Gallab. I am 24. From Sudan, a recent college graduate and, luckily, the replacement drummer for Caribou. I was asked by the fine people at Merge records to document my time with Caribou. It has been a crazy ride. So crazy, in fact, that I haven't had any time until now to write anything about it.

Everyone keeps asking me how I ended up in this position. The short answer is that I am very very lucky and just so happened to trip and fall onto the job. The long answer is as follows:

I have a project called Sinkane that I had been preparing months on end to tour in support of my new record "Color Voice" due out May 6th on Emergency Umbrella Records. Everything was running very smoothly until our van broke down on our way to Chicago. After pumping too much money into fixing the van we ran into more problems and were forced to cancel the first leg on tour. We played two shows and didn't even leave the state of Ohio. It was a major bummer and I found myself back home in Columbus frustrated and wondering how I could score a van in the next 3 weeks in order to make our second leg of tour.

I had given Dan a demo of my music at a Caribou show in Cleveland last October. To my surprise he liked it and got Sinkane on his show in Columbus on April 9th so I started focusing all of my efforts on making sure we would be ready for that show.

A couple of days after accepting my tour had failed I got an email from Dan about needing a replacement drummer. I was on my way out to a job interview so I quickly responded saying that I would do it and within five minutes I got a phone call from Dan asking me to fly out to North Carolina and meet them that night. I didn't hesitate to say yes and here I am.

We practiced for 14 + hours that day and I somehow learned enough songs to play the show in Chapel Hill. I still don't know how I learned those songs and I still feel like this is all a dream. I am a huge Caribou fan and to be playing drums for one of my favorite bands is exciting to say the least.

It's been a little over two weeks since I have joined the band. We are currently driving through the Rocky Mountains to Vancouver. It's some of the most beautiful scenery in North America. I have this fear/obsession with mountains and large landscapes: mountains, large bodies of water, whales, etc... It really puts into perspective how little humans are on this Earth. I mean literally. The Rocky Mountains are so big! It's such an incredible sight!... Here hit this, man...

The shows have been excellent especially Columbus. It was so good to come back and play in front of my friends. I will be posting more frequently now that my computer is working again.

ahmed

Don't miss Caribou on tour!

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Friday, April 18, 2008

Girls Rock NC - Silent Auction


Girls Rock NC's first annual Silent Auction on April 19th from 7-9pm on the lovely porch of Durham's Parker and Otis. The event will feature food and wine from local vendors, music from Rebecca and the Hi-Tones, campers sharing their stories about their camp experiences, and some incredible arts, crafts and services from the Triangle's creative community up for auction!

In it's fifth year, Girls Rock NC has grown from a one week camp for 24 girls to four full programs for almost 100 girls, and is an official nonprofit organization. With the money raised from the auction, the organization should be able to achieve their goal of eight full scholarships this summer. With any extra money raised, they will begin to build their year-round programming which will include after school music lessons/facilitated band practice and a lending library that includes music, books and instruments for girls in the program. Programs are open to any 7-17 year old girl that wants to participate--no experience or equipment necessary!

With the support of the creative community at large there are more and more camps forming each year. Imagine tens of thousands of girls entering adult society who truly believe in themselves and are absolutely unafraid to make their voices heard.

(CONTINUED: Click permalink below for a list of items available at the silent auction. )
Silent Auction items:
A YEAR'S WORTH of drum lessons (valued at $2000! )
4 guitar lessons
First 45" record ever released by the Indigo Girls signed by both Amy and Emily (donated by Amy Ray for our auction!)
Collectors Edition Janis Joplin records
3 family photo shoots at Bogart & Bogart Photography including 8x10 portrait prints (valued at $650 each)
Hot Stone Massage (Julie Milton)
Asheville Mountain Cabin for a week!
Night at Rosemary House Bed & Breakfast in Pittsboro
Dinner at Piedmont
Dinner at Lantern
Artwork by Katy Clove, Cheryl Pou, Jean LeCluyse, Charon Andrews, Julie Jones, Courtney Chappell, Tama Hochbaum, Pam George, Mark Cunningham, Rose Rosely and more
Personal Chef services by Shirle' at Four Corners Cuisine
$300 Gift Certificate from Jewelsmiths
Two framed posters from Somerhill Gallery (valued at $275 each)
Purse and Bag from Details
20 DVDs from Avid Video
Assorted gifts from Cozy
9th Street Dance Class coupon
Manbites Dog Theater Tickets
Gift Certificate to Pops
Family Pass to NC State Museum of Natural Sciences (with Dino Backpacks!)

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Monday, April 14, 2008

Big Dipper Week!


Image from tirbd.com

Things I'd Rather Be Doing is kicking off Big Dipper week today!

Monday brings the bulk of the interviews with the band -- Gary Waleik, Bill Goffrier, Jeff Oliphant and Steve Michener -- while the days that follow will find me (and the band) looking at each of the band's four LPs (for the sake of scheduling, Boo-Boo will be included with Heavens, just as it was on my worn Homestead Records twofer CD) and the new material on Supercluster will be considered the band's fourth LP).

Why not head over to the Merge store so you can have your own Big Dipper week? And don't forget about their upcoming tour dates!

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Portastatic at Other Music in Austin!



More footage from this year's Austin festivities! Portastatic plays "You Know Where to Find Me"

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

Shout Out Louds cover Chicago at SXSW

Yet another piece of magic birthed in Austin at this year's SXSW! Shout Out Louds cover Chicago - If You Leave Me Now


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Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Radar Bros. video from SXSW

Radar Bros. played Emo's on Day 1 of SXSW this year. Here's a sample of the set!


Online Videos by Veoh.com

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Wye Oak in stores now!



Wye Oak - If Children is in stores today! To celebrate, Stereogum brings you Quit Your Day Job with Jenn Wasner!

Unless you were born with one of those silver spoons, you likely work a day job, sneaking time for your own business when not taking care of someone else's. You're not alone. Every week, Brandon Stosuy finds out how our favorite indie artists make ends meet...

STEREOGUM: How long have you been at Golden West Cafe? I noticed, via the website, that they relocated a few years ago. Were you there during that transition?

JENN WASNER: I've been working at Golden West for almost three years now. The restaurant used to be in a tiny storefront on the Avenue in Hampden; now it's a much bigger place with about thirty tables, a stage, and a bar in the back. I started working there a couple of years after they made the move to the bigger place.

STEREOGUM: What shift do you work? Or does it switch?

JW: Tricky question, because part of the reason that I'm still working there is because of their unbeatable flexibility with my schedule. The general routine is that anyone who needs a shift covered puts up a sign and another employee usually snaps it up, no problem. A good part of the staff at GW are artists and musicians, precisely because you can get shifts covered for your show or tour, and come back in a couple of months still gainfully employed.


CONTINUE READING:
Quit Your Day Job with Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak

And just because it was so great the first time, Wye Oak perform I Don't Feel Young in a Yaris (again)!

If Children is in stores and online today!

Wye Oak on TOUR:
04.10.2008 * Baltimore MD @ G-Spot
w/ Musee Mecanique & Deer Tick
04.12.2008 * Brooklyn NY @ Union Hall
w/ Musee Mecanique & Deer Tick
04.13.2008 * Washington @ Black Cat
w/ These United States
05.01.2008 * Pittsburgh PA @ Garfield Artworks
05.02.2008 * Toronto ON @ Over the Top Festival @ Sneaky Dee's
w/ Ruby Sons
05.03.2008 * Albany NY @ Valentine's Downstairs
05.04.2008 * Boston MA @ Great Scott

Also out today: Spoon - Don't You Evah EP and Shout Out Louds - Impossible EP!

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Monday, April 07, 2008

Spoon live @ WYEP!


Listen to Spoon play live on Pittsburgh's member-supported radio station, WYEP at 1:05 pm EST.

See Spoon on tour, here!

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Friday, April 04, 2008

Shout Out Louds on Studio 360

Studio 360 did a Swedish Pop feature and included an interview with Shout Out Louds. It airs this weekend on these stations, and you can listen below!


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Caribou on Exclaim! TV

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Thursday, April 03, 2008

Merge Records presents Greaves' documentary at Full Frame



We are presenting Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, directed by William Greaves, tonight at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival held each year in Durham, NC.

In Greaves's experimental, improvisational masterpiece, a second film crew documents the first while they record a series of actors reenacting the same breakup scene over and over again. Tempers flare and complications abound as the struggling crew rebels against Greaves's refusal to define and chart the direction of the project. Set in Central Park in 1968, this cultural landmark is an insightful and riotous observation of the psychology of performance and the madness of moviemaking.

Greaves will be awarded this year's Career Award by the festival. You can find more information about him here.

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One will be screened tonight at The Carolina Theatre at 11pm and will be introduced by Mac McCaughan.

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Tuesday, April 01, 2008

M. Ward + Jim James at St. David's Church

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