Labels: Best Indie Albums

Brighton, England's garage rock indie band The Kooks are set to release their new album, Konk, on April 15 on Astralweeks in the U.S. and April 14 on Virgin Records in the UK.

The new Kooks album, named after The Kinks singer/songwriter Ray Davies' Konk Studios where it was recorded in late 2007, is the band's second album since their 2006 acclaimed debut Inside In/Inside Out.

That album went triple platinum in the UK, spawning a number of chart singles, and later helped the band get invited to South by Southwest, which is a huge deal for any musician or band.

Konk was produced by Tony Hoffer who has worked with Beck and Air.

Stream Listen to Konk on Imeem.
MP3: The Kooks - "See the Sun" from Konk
MP3: The Kooks - "Mr. Maker" from Konk
Link: The Kooks Official Website
Link: The Kooks' MySpace page
Videos: Stream Kooks' videos inside their own cool Flash-powered amplifier box.

With dozens of Kooks' 2008 concert shows already booked for North America, UK, Japan and Europe, it's likely The Kooks will be on the loose soon in a city near you.

The Kooks are Luke Pritchard (vocals/guitar), Max Rafferty (bass), Hugh Harris (guitar) and Paul Garred (drums).

The following is The Kooks new video from Konk, "Always Where I Need To Be".

Labels: Ray Davies, The Kooks

Syracuse, New York indie band Ra Ra Riot, have made impressive traction within the indie rock/pop world during the past year, thanks largely to a widely-acclaimed debut EP, 'blogger buzz' and opening for groups like the Editors, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and Bow Wow Wow.

Ra Ra Riot lives up to their name delivering unabashed chamber indie pop performed with exuberance, the fine-tuned mix of guitars and drums with violins and cellos and a frantic, but jubilant, stage performance.

In fact, the band caught the attention of many attendees, other musicians, bloggers and mainstream press at the 2008 South by Southwest Conference in Austin earlier this month.

And what is even more admirable is that Ra Ra Riot was able to continue on after the tragic loss of their drummer, John Pike last year. The band, family, friends and fans were devastated by the sudden loss of Pike. He passed away shortly before the group released their debut EP.

Pike apparently wandered off at a party following a show in Providence, RI, and did not return. Panicked and with no clue what happened to their friend and band mate, an extensive search was conducted, but it wasn't until Pike's body was found in Buzzard's Bay in Cape Cod, Massachusetts that loved ones learned he had accidentally drowned.

Pike's family and friends encouraged the remaining band members to continue on without Pike. And so they did, and with fervid conviction to carry on the music that Pike helped create. (Download and listen to Each Year, from the band's debut EP).

In the past year, Ra Ra Riot has built a loyal, and growing, fan base, toured seemingly non-stop and have received more press coverage than many bands get in decades of playing together.

Last September (2007), after seeing Ra Ra Riot open for the Editors at San Francisco's Fillmore, digging their sound very much, watching the reaction of the crowd (SF music fans are tough as nails) and talking to the band members, I knew we'd all hear more from Ra Ra Riot.

Following their Fillmore performance, I talked to band members Wesley Miles (vocals/keyboards) and Mathieu Santos (bassist) outside as they loaded their equipment into a trailer that was hooked up to a van parked in front of the door to the venue itself.

We chatted about their style of music and where the band was going next, what record they were working on and other details. But I sensed something was not right as we were talking, almost as if they were hiding something. It was only later, when I did some research about the band, did I learn of their dear friend's passing.

In memory of John Pike, check out the John Ryan Pike Memorial Foundation website, sticksman.org. Other band members include Alexandra Lawn, Cameron Wisch, and Rebecca Zeller. Check out Ra Ra Riot's official website and MySpace page.

Here’s a 30 minute session with Ra Ra Riot recorded in January 2008 on WOXY Radio (view set list).

The following are MP3s featured on the band's website and were recorded during a DayTrotter Session at SxSW in Austin

MP3: Ra Ra Riot - St. Peter's Day Festival
MP3: Ra Ra Riot - Suspended in Gaffa

3.12.08: SXSW Day Stage
3.12.08: Todd P Patio Party
3.13.08: The Onion & Canvas Media Party
3.14.08: Soundcheck Magazine Party
3.15.08: Diesel Party
3.15.08: Park The Van/Daytrotter Showcase

In case you missed the previous post, the popular NYC indie band Vampire Weekend, who are friends of Ra Ra Riot, put on a great show at the small San Francisco venue Rickshaw Stop on Easter Sunday.

Ra Ra Riot continues their tour from now through May 16 with The Cribs and staring next month, The Little Ones. See Ra Ra Riot's full concert schedule.


Subscribe to our RSS/Atom/iTunes burn, Feed Me Indie.

Musicians, bands, promoters and labels, please submit CDs and music to review to POB 722, RE, CA 95044 and please do not send email attachments as they are automatically deleted by my server. All other contacts via email are welcome but please use Comments section for site discussions.

Labels: John Pike, Ra Ra Riot

Dear Subscribers and Visitors:

You may notice that we are continuing to work on creating a faster, more appealing, more versatile and more content-rich site for fans of that thing they call 'indie rock'.

Please let us know if you are experiencing any problems with the site, or if you have any comments, suggestions, criticisms or compliments. Believe it or not, we're more interested in the 'constructive criticism' of the site to help make it better for everyone.

In the coming months, there are going to be some big surprises in store as far as upgrading IndieRockCafe.com, including more listings and searches of artists, songs, reviews, concerts, plus added social networks, more legal and free MP3s, music videos, streaming media, new and upcoming releases, plus the latest news and views from the indie music community at large, including special features with 'established' and 'up-and-coming' independent musicians and groups.

Thanks and please send your feedback

IRC Team

http://saddlecreekrecords.com/
http://www.paw-tracks.com/

Labels: 2008 Indie Songs

Watch this fun video from the Vampire Weekend video (which the photo above was taken from) to see evidence of musical genius, but also more evidence that they are not letting their unprecedented success get to them too much.

Streaming Video Session: Vampire Weekend live on KCRW

Live MP3: Vampire Weekend performing M79 at SxSW 2008

Webs: Vampire Weekend's official website and MySpace page.

P.S. Did anyone else at the Vampire Weekend show at the Rickshaw Stop take photographs that have orbs in them? I don't know if it's a lighting or camera issue, but I have orbs on all my photos, but they did not appear at any other recent indoor, darken venue except here. Looking at some of these pictures you can see what clearly look to be one or more orbs moving around, so to me I just call it "Dancing with Orbs" (a new band name?).



Vampire Weekend Concert Tour Schedule through August 2008

Mar 19 2008 - 8:00P The Casbah (SOLD OUT) San Diego, California
Mar 20 2008 - 8:00P El Rey (SOLD OUT) Los Angeles, California
Mar 22 2008 - 8:00P The Independent (SOLD OUT) San Francisco, California
Mar 23 2008 - 8:00P Rickshaw Shop (SOLD OUT) San Francisco, California
Mar 25 2008 - 8:00P Doug Fir Lounge (SOLD OUT) Portland, Oregon
Mar 26 2008 - 8:00P Neumos (SOLD OUT) Seattle, Washington
Mar 27 2008 - 8:00P Richards on Richards (SOLD OUT) Vancouver, British Columbia
Mar 29 2008 - 8:00P The Badlander Missoula, Montana
Mar 30 2008 - 8:00P Neurolux Boise, Idaho
Mar 31 2008 - 8:00P In the Venue Salt Lake City, Utah
Apr 1 2008 - 8:00P Bluebird Theater Denver, Colorado
Apr 3 2008 - 8:00P The Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis, Minnesota
Apr 4 2008 - 8:00P The High Noon Madison, Wisconsin
Apr 5 2008 - 8:00P Turner Hall Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Apr 6 2008 - 8:00P Metro (SOLD OUT) Chicago, Illinois
Apr 11 2008 - 8:00P Brown University Campus Green Providence, Rhode Island
Apr 25 2008 - 1:00P Coachella Indio, California
May 1 2008 - 8:00P Bistol Bierkeller Bristol, UK
May 2 2008 - 8:00P Birmingham Academy 2 (SOLD OUT) Birmingham, UK
May 3 2008 - 8:00P The Liquid Rooms Edinburgh, UK
May 4 2008 - 8:00P Oran Mor Glasgow, UK
May 6 2008 - 8:00P Northumbria University Newcastle, UK
May 7 2008 - 8:00P The Cockpit (SOLD OUT) Leeds, UK
May 8 2008 - 8:00P Manchester Academy 2 (SOLD OUT) Manchester, UK
May 9 2008 - 8:00P Camber Sands Minehead, UK
May 12 2008 - 8:00P Wedgewood Rooms Portsmouth, UK
May 13 2008 - 8:00P Electric Ballroom (SOLD OUT) London, UK
May 15 2008 - 1:00P http://www.blogger.com/ Brighton, UK
May 20 2008 MelkwegAmsterdam, Holland
Jun 7 2008 - 8:00P The SocialOrlando, Florida
Jun 8 2008 - 8:00P Cafe ElevenSt. Augustine, Florida
Jun 12 2008 - 1:00P BonnarooManchester, Tennessee
Aug 10 2008 Summer Sonic - OsakaOsaka, Japan

Labels: 2008 Indie Rock, Vampire Weekend

Organizers of Outside Lands, San Francisco's three-day music festival taking place in Golden Gate Park this August, are beefing up the lineup for the west coast's newest outdoor music festival.

Today's new additions to the SF Outside Lands Festival include Beck, Wilco, Andrew Bird, Broken Social Scene, Drive-By Truckers, M. Ward, Cold War Kids, Two Gallants, Black Mountain, Devendra Banhart, Ben Harper, Galactic, Widespread Panic, Primus, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Bon Iver, Nellie McKay, Little Brother, Manu Chao, Regina Spektor, The Coup, The Cool Kids, Steel Pulse, Lyrics Born, Café Tacuba and the Felice Brothers.

Here's a few featured artists and groups:

MP3: Wilco - Muzzle of Bees
MP3: Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place
MP3: Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion Of The Head to Left
MP3: Galactic - Bongo The Dog
MP3: Broken Social Scene - Anthems for a 17-Year-Old Girl

The latest lineup news for Outside Lands 2008 lineup adds to previous confirmed performances from headliners Tom Petty, Jack Johnson and Radiohead. More news updates as they come in.

Labels: Music Festivals, Outside Lands Festival, Radiohead

Labels: Fall Out Boy

Few bands in today's highly competitive and saturated music market can remain popular without having new material for fans on a regular basis.

But veteran indie electronic rockers Portishead have managed to overcome those odds for nearly a decade.

On April 28th, Portishead will release their first original collection of new material since 1997's self-titled 'trip hop' classic, which propelled the band to celestial heights, and kept them going for years, thanks in large part to a loyal fan base and numerous performances at big music festivals over the last few years.

The new album, Third, (which may refer to the fact that this is only their third album since 1994's classic Dummy) has been kept under tight wraps in hopes of preventing a leak, but just to make sure they don't miss having some control over the "blogger buzz" that is so important nowadays, the band has just released their new video called "Machine Gun."





MP3: Portishead - Machine Gun from upcoming release of Third.

See the Portishead official website for more information, ordering details and news updates. Just a quick note: The band needs to create a new and more dynamic website and definitely get rid of the frame-navigation of their site's pages.

Labels: New Music Videos, Portishead

This week's indie music playlist features recent releases from musicians and groups that are creating buzz among the music bloggers.

The single "No One's Gonna Love You" by Band of Horses appeared on their latest album released almost six months ago. Yet, it wasn't until yesterday (March 19, 2008) that the single was 'officially' released.

The psychedelic and Middle Eastern influences of The Ruby Suns is apparent on their latest single and The Helio Sequence returns with a new single after a four year new material drought (but the wait was worth it for HS fans).

Each of this week's songs and the artists who created them were selected not just because they are recent notable releases, but their unique talent and important contributions to the silly thing we like to call 'indie' rock, aka independent music, helps keep the spirit, freedom and creativity of music alive in an age when overly polished and marketed music dominates the mainstream media.

Check out these free and legal MP3s from Band of Horses, The Ruby Suns, The Gutter Twins, The Helio Sequence, What Made Milwaukee Famous and Steve Malkmus and the Jicks.

MP3: The Ruby Suns - Tane Mahuta

MP3: The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead

MP3: Band of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You

MP3: The Gutter Twins - Idle Hands

MP3: Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks -Baltimore

MP3: What Made Milwaukee Famous - Resistance St.


Stay tuned for a complete band profiles of each of this week's playlist winners or subscribe to the feed to get them as they are published.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Musicians, bands, promoters and labels, please submit CDs and music to review to POB 722, RE, CA 95044. To leave a comment, please click on the Post Comment link.

Labels: 2008 Indie Releases

The South by Southwest conference in Austin has come to a close, but for those folks who missed out, here's some great songs from lesser-known artists who performed during the conference that ended on Sunday.

Fools - The Dodos
Vinalhaven Harbor - Stephanie Dosen
Devil Take My Soul - Son of Dave
Youth Games - The Mission District
About To Walk - Throw Me The Statue
Cindy - Ola Podrida
Modern Leper - Frightened Rabbit

Launch the SXSW Player to listen to dozens and dozens of artists from this year's showcase.

Torrent entire SXSW performance showcases from 2005 to 2007

Related blog and mainstream reports on SXSW 2008:

SXSW 2008 Interactive
22nd annual SXSW Music Festival - Variety
Various observations of SXSW 2008 artists and performers


-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe for the Feed Me Indie feed via RSS, Atom, iTunes or your favorite reader and podcaster.

Labels: SXSW 2008

Even before their 'big time' appearance on Saturday Night Live earlier this month, Vampire Weekend was one of the biggest new bands of 2008, if not the biggest new band of the year, at least as far as the 'buzz factor' goes.

Weeks leading up to the February release of their debut self-titled album on Beggar's Banquet, VW had captured the attention of bloggers, music critics and 'indie' fans, mostly due to their performances last year in concert, at music festivals and their Feb. 1st U.S. network debut on the David Letterman Show.

Vampire Weekend - Boston
Vampire Weekend - Walcott
Vampire Weekend - A-Punk

(Watch and listen to Vampire Weekend play a 40-minute session clicking the video further down the page)

Many fans were disappointed by VW's performance on SNL (the string section wasn't synced with the band). Even the full-length clips of Vampire Weekend performing on SNL have been removed from YouTube; however, they have reappeared on Stereogum.

But, really, you can forget about the SNL show. Without question, it is the band's 40-minute studio session on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic this past Valentine's Day that shows Vampire Weekend at their best. Not only that, but everyone watch it. This is one of the best things about the Internet.

Die-hard fans all around the world who have been unable to see Vampire Weekend in concert should really enjoy this session. It may be the closest many come to see the band in concert, and in some cases, even better.

During the 40-minute studio performance, Vampire Weekend's band members play almost every song from their debut album. The video and audio quality, and camera work, are superb (unlike most videos on YouTube) - no screaming, background noise or shakiness. See the set list below and some lyrics.



The first set of VW's KCRW February 14, 2008 studio session features, in order played, Mansun Roof, Oxford Comma, A-Punk, Cape Cod Kawassa Kawassa and Boston. Following the first set, there is a brief and wonderfully conducted interview with the band.

During the second set the guys play Bryn, Campus, I Stand Corrected, The Kids Don't Stand and M79.

View more Vampire Weekend lyrics at their official website.

Labels: Best Indie 2008, Vampire Weekend

(Above: This is a fake that has been circulating the Internets for the past month; it is not the official Lollapalooza lineup poster for 2008 - notice the poor Photoshop work on the "8" - somebody couldn't find the correct font match.)

Labels: Lollapalooza, Music Festivals

Riding on the sails of their 'critically acclaimed' debut album Humanimals, San Diego's indie trio Grand Ole Party has announced a slew of concert dates with indie rockers Rogue Wave and punk old-timers New York Dolls (do they get MediCare?) for the month of April with a final show in San Francisco on May 3rd.

Question: Is this band really good enough to tour with the likes of Vampire Weekend, Rilo Kiley and Rogue Wave? (I don't think so, but you be the judge.) Plus, the name; that's the best they could come up with? GOP? Maybe they'll get a spot at a McCain rally.

Grand Ole Party: "Nasty Habits" [mp3] from Humanimals

Grand Ole Party's April/May Concert Schedule

April
2 Denver, CO - Hi-Dive
3 Omaha, NE - Slowdown Jr
4 Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge
5 Nashville, TN - The Rutledge
6 Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
7 Mt. Pleasant, SC - Village Tavern
11 Boston, MA - Paradise #
12 New York, NY - Fillmore at Irving Plaza #
15 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church #
16 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club #
18 Chicago, IL - Schubas #
19 Chicago, IL - Schubas #
20 St. Louis, MO - Gargoyle Club #
22 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre #
24 Phoenix, AZ - Rhythm Room #
27 Indio, CA - Coachella

May
3 San Francisco, CO - The Fillmore #

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe for the Feed Me Indie feed via RSS, Atom, iTunes or your favorite reader and podcaster.

Labels: 2008 Indie Releases, Rogue Wave

courtesy Exclaim.ca


For young men in Europe, there's no need to ask where's the love as long as you don't mind that it comes in the form of festival tickets for a few strong shots of your man juice.

A sperm collection and awareness program launched in Ireland this week offered 'donation packs' for qualified males who would, in return for their gift to womankind, get free music festival tickets to fests in the U.K. and Europe this summer.

In today's entertainment/sex saturated world, it's a genius promotional campaign, albeit it would be unlikely to pull it off in the uptight U.S.A.,where we have endless television programs that depict sex and the human body in roundabout, mixed signal ways yet we won't offer the same teens watching those programs free condoms in high school. (Don't do that, 'the kids' might think it's ok to have sex! Ugh...)

The sperm-for-tickets concept is a brilliant marketing campaign, not only because it catches the interest of the media and public (Europeans are much more honest about sexual matters than Americans), but the sperm bankers know their are plenty of young European men that would give up more than a few shots to go to a rock festival for free.

And if the pure joy of free festival tickets for many young men - and their girlfriends, or boyfriends, take your pick - was not orgasmic enough (albeit self-induced), they can also use their other head - the one with a brain in it - long enough to comprehend that their 'donation' is helping to address a crisis in Ireland - the Irish are facing a 40% shortfall in sperm reserves in the face of rising demand.

But, not too fast there slick. Apparently, the coffers filled up as of yesterday and the promoters behind the sperm-for-tickets campaign had to change every page of their website and replaced the content with the same following statement:

The purpose of this website was to test market interest through a pilot scheme.

Applications for donation packs have far exceed the expectations. Our clients are calling a halt to the invitation to apply for packs, and will review the results of the scheme to decide on how to proceed.

All submissions sent to the website are fully protected under Irish privacy regulations, and will not be released to ANY third party.

If the clinic decide to proceed with the mail system after examining the results of the pilot scheme, all people who applied for donation packs will be contacted.

Thank you for your patience and interest.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe for the Feed Me Indie feed via RSS, Atom, iTunes or your favorite reader and podcaster.

Labels: UK Music Festivals

Pained and yet hauntingly beautiful, Mark Kozelek's music as a solo artist and with Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon has gained him great respect in the music community, especially among indie folk rock fans.

Labels: Ben Gibbard, Mark Kozekel, Sun Kil Moon

The above promo video for the 2008 Plug Awards held at Terminal 5 in New York City on Friday night was produced by Dell Lounge, a website that broadcast the award ceremonies live.

While there is no official Dell Lounge video of the ceremonies out yet, you can view a segment of the live cast via a hypercam streaming recorder, along with a clip of St. Vincent performing at the awards show, below.

The winners of the 2008 PLUG Awards include the best indie rock album of the year Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective and the overall album of the year Neon Bible by Arcade Fire.

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Animal Collective - Fireworks

Justice was named the best new artist, and the male and female artist of the year awards went to Andrew Bird and Annie Clark of St. Vincent, respectively.

Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
Andrew Bird - Heretics
St. Vincent - These Days (J. Brown)

Here are some of the other winners and nominees in various categories of the 2008 Plug Awards.

Americana Album of the Year - Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Metal Album of the Year - The Dillinger Escape Plan - Ire Works
Hip-Hop Album of the Year - Aesop Rock - None Shall Pass
Punk Album of the Year - Gogol Bordello - Super Taranta!
Electronic/Dance Album of the Year - Justice - †
DJ Album of the Year - Hot Chip - DJ-Kicks
Avant Album of the Year - Liars - Liars

Listen to 30-second clips of all the nominees for all the categories.

The following YouTube clip features Annie Clarke and St. Vincent, plus Dizzee Rascal and Jose Gonzalez



Other 2008 nominees for Best Indie Rock Album of the Year:



Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (Merge)
Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin (Sub Pop)
Battles - Mirrored (Warp)
Deerhunter - Cryptograms (Kranky)
Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends (Frenchkiss)
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl)
Okkervil River - The Stage Names (Jagjaguwar)
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)
Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover (Jagjaguar)
The National - Boxer (Beggars Banquet)
The New Pornographers - Challengers (Matador)

Not included but should have been: Arctic Monkeys' Favourite Worst Nightmare, Editors' An End Has A Start, etc.

Winner and nominees for the Best Album (overall) of the 2008:

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (Merge)
WinnerBand Of Horses - Cease To Begin (Sub Pop)
Battles - Mirrored (Warp)
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing)
El-P - I'll Sleep When You're Dead (Definitive Jux)
Justice - † (Downtown / Vice / Ed Banger)
Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl)
Panda Bear - Person Pitch (Paw Tracks)
Radiohead - In Rainbows (self-released)
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights (Daptone)
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge)
The National - Boxer (Beggars Banquet)

Best New Artist of the Year winner and nominees:

Bat For Lashes
Battles
Dan Deacon
Deerhunter
Justice -Winner
Los Campesinos!
No Age
Sea Wolf
St. Vincent
Vampire Weekend
White Rabbits
Yeasayer

Music website winner and nominees for 2008:

Allmusic
CokemachineGlow
The Daily Swarm
Daytrotter
Elbo.ws
The Hype Machine
MySpace
NME.com
Paper Thin Walls
Pitchfork Media
Prefix
Stylus

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe for the Feed Me Indie feed via RSS, Atom, iTunes or your favorite reader and podcaster.

Labels: Rock Music Awards

Labels: Lollapalooza, Music Festivals, Radiohead

Following a successful Noise Pop Festival in which dozens and dozens of indie musicians and groups descended on San Francisco, there are still many great shows coming up in the next few weeks, including Ray Davies (pictured above) of The Kinks, Death Cab For Cutie, Beirut, Linkin Park, The Cure, Jimmy Eat World, My Chemical Romance and The Bravery.

San Francisco's iconic radio station Live 105 F.M. has updated its concert calendar to include the latest, upcoming concerts (this is just a snapshot of many shows coming up in the SF Bay Area; stay tuned for more concert announcements):

3/8 - Serj Tankian @ The Warfield

3/10 - Popscene presents SxSF w/ Persephone's Bees & more @ Rickshaw Stop

3/10 - Angels & Airwaves @ The Warfield

3/10 - Linkin Park w/ Coheed & Cambria @ The Arco Arena, Sacramento

3/13 - The Bravery @ The Fillmore

3/28 - Ray Davies @ The Warfield - The legendary singer/songwriter of the best rock band ever, The Kinks, returns to San Francisco with a new solo album - Working Man's Cafe - that Rolling Stone magazine called a "masterpiece".

MP3: Vietnam Cowboys - Ray Davies from Working Man's Cafe

4/3-4 - My Chemical Romance @ The Warfield

4/8 - Jimmy Eat World & Paramore @ San Jose State Events Center

4/10-11 - The Honda Civic Tour w/ Panic At The Disco, Motion City Soundtrack, The Hush Sound, Phantom Planet @ The Warfield

4/12 - Taste Of Chaos w/ Avenged Sevenfold & more @ San Jose State Events Center

4/23 - Ben Gibbard and Death Cab For Cutie @ Fillmore

5/27-8 - Zach Condon (photo, right) and Beirut @ The Grand Ballroom At the Regency Center

MP3: Beirut - Postcards From Italy

5/28 - The Cure @ The HP Pavilion (video below)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe for the Feed Me Indie feed via RSS, Atom, iTunes or your favorite reader and podcaster.

Labels: Ray Davies

They are not necessarily 'indie' (whatever that is), because they are signed with Universal, but Angels and Airwaves are starting to get plenty of blog buzz.

The Adventure - Angels and Airwaves

Clearly, they are talented and make some catchy songs, but A&A may be a bit too polished by the record exces for their own good.

For example, this A&A video clip and the song could be straight outta OC.

Still, I have to admit I sometimes like the "OC style" - the corporate polished pop rock from heavily promoted artists and groups 'owned' by one of the Big Four.

While "OC style" branded pop rock is cool sometimes, my heart and soul are always with the indie bands, signed and unsigned, that keep amazing me each time I spin a new virtually unknown track or play catch-up and groove on songs that hit the Net six or more months ago.

It's hard to keep up with all the great music out there nowadays, but I'm doing my best. :-

Angel and Airwaves 2008 Concert Tour Listings:

Mar 7 2008
8:00P
Roseland Theatre
Portland, Oregon

Mar 8 2008
5:00P
Silver Platters
Seattle, Washington

Mar 8 2008
8:00P
SOLD OUT: ShowBox
Seattle, Washington

Mar 10 2008
8:00P
Warfield
San Francisco, California

Mar 12 2008
5:00P
Virgin Megastore-The Block at Orange- In Store Signing
Orange, California

Mar 12 2008
8:00P
SOLD OUT: House of Blues
Anaheim, California

Mar 13 2008
8:00P
Soma
San Diego, California

Mar 14 2008
8:00P
SOLD OUT: House of Blues
Anaheim, California

Mar 15 2008
8:00P
Wiltern
Los Angeles, California

Apr 2 2008
8:00P
Duo Music Exchange
Tokyo

Apr 3 2008
8:00P
Club Quattro
Nagoya

Apr 4 2008
8:00P
Zepp
Osaka

Apr 6 2008
8:00P
Makuhari Messe
Tokyo

Apr 10 2008
8:00P
Academy
Manchester

Apr 11 2008
8:00P
Academy
Glasgow

Apr 12 2008
8:00P
Academy
Birmingham

Apr 14 2008
8:00P
Guildhall
Southampton

Apr 15 2008
8:00P
Academy
Bristol

Apr 16 2008
8:00P
SOLD OUT: Astoria
London

Apr 17 2008
8:00P
2nd SHOW ADDED: ASTORIA
London

Apr 19 2008
8:00P
Polsslag Festival
Hasselt

Apr 20 2008
8:00P
Melkweg
Amsterdam

Apr 21 2008
8:00P
Bataclan
Paris

MySpace - Angels and Airwaves

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe for the Feed Me Indie feed via RSS, Atom, iTunes or your favorite reader and podcaster.

Labels: Angels and Airwaves

Promoters for major music festivals realize that beating the others to the punch as far as announcing lineup and ticket sale dates could mean the difference in tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Labels: Bonnaroo, Music Festivals

Indie music fans in south Florida are already arriving in south Florida for this weekend's Langerado Festival.

The 2008 Langerado Festival has a hot lineup for a relatively little-known music fest (compared to Lollapalooza, Coachella and Bonnaroo). During the next few days, IRC will highlight some of the headlining aritsts for Langerado 2008, including links and embeds of videos from the 08 festival performances as soon as they are available.

Today's featured Langerado artist is Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9). While they haven't released a new album in nearly three years (Artifact, 2005), the band has toured so much in recent years that fresh material doesn't seem to matter.

STS9, the dub-happy jam band from Georgia that has had a loyal following for a decade now, but only really broke through with Artifact (and relentless concerts and fest appearances) will take the stage on Friday, March 7, 2008 from 1 am to 4am (I double-checked it and that's what the schedule says).

The website iClips.net will stream the STS9 set and many other sets from all four days of the festival according to its website. So, you can bet there will be updates about that as more information and times come in. If you can't make it to Langerado, you might be able to get a lot closer with the continued advances in Internet technology!

In the meantime, here's a YouTube clip of STS9 performing "Aimlessly" at Langerado 2007:



Here's a popular video of STS9's David Phipps using the DIY 8x16 monome controller of "Be Nice". (monome.org).



MP3 - Sound Tribe Sector 9 - Be Nice

For anyone who was, or was not, at Red Rocks 2007 in Colorado, here's a great video performance that represents the band at its best performing a six-minute jam session.

The band also played at ACL Fest 2007 (in searing heat and dripping humidity) - here's a short, but excellent quality video of the band jamming at ACL 07 (not sure what the tune is though; some of STS9 music is improvised or spin-offs of songs in their catalog - which is surprisingly small).

Stay tuned to IRC for artist profiles, YouTube video performances from Langerado 2008, MP3s, blog reviews, photo galleries and more.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get the Feed Me Indie feed via RSS, Atom, iTunes or your favorite reader/podcaster.

Labels: Music Festivals