world cup update

I had a few requests to post some photos of some hot Argentinian World Cup fans, but those bums lost to Germany today, so instead, let's celebrate Italy's dominating victory over the Ukraine:



The Italy-Germany match should be insane. I'll be pulling for England and Brasil tomorrow, and ultimately hoping for a Brasil-Italy final so I can go to my Brasilian friends' house to watch the game dressed like this.

friday megapost

Way too much good shit going on tonight in North Texas. We break it down for you:

Dallas:

I'll be rocking your mom's favorite songs upstairs at The Cavern, while Sound Team and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin play downstairs. Sound Team's Movie Monster received a laughable and ultimately condescending Pitchfork review today, in which they attempt to liken it to an actual "monster movie" (clever!) And the fact that the reviewer mentioned Creed not only forces us to question his credibility; it makes me wonder if the guy even listened to the album, or if he just felt like attacking the perceived "hype". And then to speak for Win Butler? Pretty arrogant of P-fork, but I guess I wouldn't expect anything less. Anyway, count on me dragging Bill upstairs to guest DJ.



Sound Team Movie Monster mp3
SSLYBY House Fire mp3



Why do my boys DJ Nature and $elect always have the illest fliers ever? Anyway, the real DJs will be spinning tonight at Monkey Bar. No reason you can't hit up their set and mine, Dallas. Quit being so lazy.

Cat Power The Greatest (DJ Nature 'The Party' remix) mp3

Fort Worth:



Metrognome's Popfest! is going down in Fort Worth, and I have a feeling I'm going to regret missing this one. Not only will there be performances by the Happy Bullets, Fishboy, and my favorite six-year old of all-time, but word is our friends Hardin Sweaty and the Ready To Go will be releasing their new album, Elephant Gun, at the show.

Fishboy Tree Star mp3

Denton:

Tilly & the Wall plays tonight at Hailey's and I obviously can't make it, but I've got a new contributor (which I'm really excited about) who will have a review and photos for you sometime this weekend. And there is basically nothing better than photos of Tilly & the Wall.

Tilly & the Wall Lost Girls mp3

Finally, Red Hunter and The Theater Fire play tonight at Dan's in Denton. Both bands put on a great show, so don't miss it, Denton.

pop now!

"The PDX Pop Now! Festival is organized by a group of local Portland musicians, writers, and fans from the PDX-POP mailing list who've coalesced around the idea of organizing a free local music festival. Our mission is to celebrate not only the bands who've achieved "success", but also the amazing lesser-known bands around town. PDX Pop Now! is a local music event meant for everyone. No matter what age you are, or what type of music you listen to, our goal is to provide you one place to catch some of Portland's finest, in a safe and fun atmosphere."

PDX Pop Now! also puts out a compilation CD to coincide with the festival, and the 2006 comp is ridiculous, featuring unreleased tracks from Stephen Malkmus, The Thermals, and more, including these two amazing tracks. That Menomena joint is one of the most beautiful things I've heard in a while, I can't wait for their new record:

Menomena Shirt mp3
Talkdemonic Ending the Orange Glow mp3

New Cash

Hopefully you guys are already aware of Amp Camp's MP3 of the Day feature. If not, go check it out, and browse the archives while you're there. They've got some great stuff (new Oneida, Thom Yorke, etc.) including this track from Johnny Cash's American V: A Hundred Highways (out July 4).

Johnny Cash God's Gonna Cut You Down mp3

i would go along with someone like you

I have to thank young blog prodigy Matt for this one; since he posted it last week, it has officially become one of my favorite songs of the year. What can I say, I love the Swedes. Stockholm's Peter Bjorn and John got help from the Concretes' Victoria Bergsman in creating the feel good whistle-along of the summer.

Peter Bjorn and John Young Folks mp3

holler at Peter Bjorn and John on Myspace

elsewhere:



Red Hunter and The Theater Fire play tonight at the Double Wide in Dallas. Unfortunately, St. Vincent sent us a message yesterday that she would be unable to make it back from NYC in time for the show, but it's still a stellar bill.

Peter & the Wolf The Fall mp3

your chance to be rich and famous

Shapes & Sizes & Hasselhoff

We are honored to be a judge for Asthmatic Kitty's "Reshape & Resize Shapes & Sizes" Contest, in which you can win $300 and the entire AK back catalog, and your mp3 on the AK website. The dealio:

"Take their popular "Wilderness," and do something amazing with the song. Remix it, reinterpret it, cover it. A specially selected panel of elite bloggers will choose the best of the submissions. The winner will receive a front page posting on our site and eternal gratitude from the record label and Shapes and Sizes, the Canadian way! But hey, we can't ignore that we are American and therefore egregiously capitalistic. We're giving $300 American to the winner! That's 336 loonies to spend on Old Dutch Potato Chips - remember, ketchup isn't the only flavor!

First place will also receive the entire (available) back catalog of Asthmatic Kitty releases, and a very orange and wonderful Laura Park AK t-shirt! Second and third place receive stuff too. On September 1st, check back at asthmatickitty.com for the winners."

Not sure about the "elite" part, but we sure are glad they asked us to judge this thing, because we love Shapes & Sizes. Check out the details and submit your creation here. Oh yeah, here's the track, now get busy:

Shapes & Sizes Wilderness mp3

pranging out

Head over to Indie Interviews to hear their recent interview with Mike Skinner of The Streets. I was in attendance for this interview, and Mike looked pretty much like this, completely bling-ed out, but he was wearing some ridiculously short shorts (Thanks to Miss Modernage for the wonderfully-labeled pic):



also:



Don't forget to check me on SIRIUS Blog Radio tonight at 10 EST. I'll be playing tracks from my favorite releases of the first half of '06, including songs from Midlake, Destroyer, Sunset Rubdown, and more. If you don't have SIRIUS, sign up for a free trial here so you can listen online. (And no, you cynical bastards, I don't get any money when you sign up for a FREE trial)

Finally:



Adult Swim hooks you up with another free EP, featuring the likes of Mos Def, MF Doom, Lady Sov, and more. Here's a sample:

Lady Sov Hoodie (Spank Rock remix) mp3

Here's the whole damn thing:

Chocolate Swim EP .zip

Remix Smile

Lily Allen rocking the Air Max 90s

Download this preview clip of a re-mixable version of Lily Allen's "Smile". I played with it for about 5 minutes at work before I got tired of it. But hey, that's 5 minutes I didn't have to actually work, so it's totally worth it.

Lily Allen U-MYX Preview of "Smile" .zip

Also, Lily has made available a pretty cool "album-teaser" from her upcoming LP, Alright, Still:

Lily Allen Alright, Still Album Teaser mp3

girl talk and white denim

Sorry to throw these both into the same post (running late this morning), but both are worthy of your undivided attention. I personally can't get enough of either:



After a few listens, I'm addicted to Girl Talk's new record, Night Ripper (thanks Sam). Dude has made the ADD-afflicted's album of the year, taking only the best parts of your favorite (and least favorite) songs and mashing them with various top-40 hip hop and more. Cop it now at emusic before they get served with a cease & desist, you'll be glad you did. On this track alone, you get Neutral Milk Hotel, Juelz Santana, 50 Cent, Better Than Ezra(?) and oh so much more:

Girl Talk Minute by Minute mp3

more on Girl Talk here

get a couple more tracks from MOKB

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Not sure how to describe this one, as it's sort of outside of my musical frame of reference. But it kicks my ass, so just listen:

White Denim Let's Talk mp3

listen to a couple more White Denim tracks on Myspace

New DJ Shadow

Solesides offers up two tracks from DJ Shadow's highly anticipated new record, The Outsider:

DJ Shadow Enuff (feat. Q-Tip & Lateef) mp3
DJ Shadow This Time (I'm Gonna Try it My Way) mp3

*Links removed at the request of the label

Band of Horses: Live in Denton

A jovial Band of Horses played to an appreciative crowd last night in Denton, playing nearly everything from Everything All the Time during their hour-long set. The sound was as good as it's ever been at Hailey's, the band sounded almost exactly like they do on record (a good thing, in this case), and I left wishing I had a voice like Ben Bridwell's. The Hall & Oates cover they've been playing on this tour was great, anybody got the mp3? I suppose the original will have to do for now:

Hall & Oates You Make My Dreams mp3

Click for larger image:





elsewhere:

Just when you thought the mashup had seen it's heyday, along come two acts who are still doing something interesting with the form: Girl Talk and Flosstradamus. Dodge has a few tracks from Girl Talk, and here's a good one from Flosstradamus, in which the Chicago DJ crew mixes their hometown hero (Kanye) with Sigur Ros' "Staralfur":

Flosstradamus Overnight Star mp3

Tonight in Denton

Band of Horses are playing Hailey's tonight up in Denton, and we are reluctantly making the trek up there even though we have to work in the morning, mostly because we love Everything All the Time and we've heard good things about the live show. How about playing in Dallas next time, huh guys?

Band of Horses The Great Salt Lake mp3

elsewhere:

The Tripwire pointed us in the direction of this Gnarls/Beasties mash. Not a big mashup fan, but London's DJ Sussex did a decent job on this one, although it'd be pretty hard to mess up Dangermouse's beat:

DJ Sussex Crazy vs. Check it Out mp3

the evening episode

I'm an unabashed fan of '90s female-fronted electronic-pop (the good kind: Massive Attack, Portishead, Mazzy Star, etc.) and the music of Sacramento's The Evening Episode definitely recalls that aesthetic: organic, lush, sensuous, and impossibly warm. The band's press materials draw valid comparisons to Portishead and The Notwist, and Teresa Eggers' sexy/sweet vocals also bring to mind Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval. And I've probably mentioned this before, but I have a thing for hot vocalists/thereminists:



Here are a couple tracks from the new album, The Physicist Has Known Sin, which comes out July 11 on Slowdance Records.

The Evening Episode Lovely Creatures mp3
The Evening Episode New Love mp3

The Evening Episode plays in Seattle tonight with the great Buck 65. Preorder The Physicist Has Known Sin here, starting tomorrow

related:

Music is Art has a nice little write-up on Mazzy Star, as well as some live mp3s from a '94 performance.

elsewhere:

The Daily Growl has some mp3s from a Lily Allen live radio session.

World Cup:



In my most highly anticipated match of the World Cup thus far, the Italians take on Australia this afternoon. Although I'd love to see the Socceroos do well, I have to pull for my thugs the Azzurri. UPDATE: Italy, down a man, wins on a PK from Totti in stoppage time! Yay for stoppage time.

World Cup Update

nice wall

Today's Portugal-Netherlands match illustrated why soccer will never catch on in the U.S. That game was ridiculous, and the ref was a complete douche. 20 cards, players flopping all over the place, grown men crying like little girls. It was worse than the NBA Playoffs. Portugal won the match, 1-0, thanks in big part to the Netherlands' idiot coach benching their best scorer (Van Nistelrooy). In today's other match, Becks proved he's still a badass with an ill goal on a free kick (see above photo), as England beat Ecuador 1-0.

song of the evening

You've no doubt heard Jim Noir's charming "Eanie Meanie" (mp3) on the Adidas World Cup ad, but this Hot Chip remix of "My Patch" is where it's at:

Jim Noir My Patch (Hot Chip remix) mp3

I just received Noir's full-length today, but have yet to listen. Any good?

Liars added to Pitchfork Fest

As if the Pitchfork Music Fest lineup wasn't ridiculous enough already, the f'ing Liars were added to the final lineup today. The 2nd day of the fest could very well be the best day in the history of live music, with Os Mutantes, Spoon, Liars, Devendra, Tapes, The National, Jens Lekman, Danielson, Diplo, CSS, and on and on and on. Have I mentioned how much I love the Liars record?

Liars The Other Side of Mt. Heart Attack mp3

bonus P-fork hotness:

CSS Let's Make Love Listen Death From Above (XXXChange mix)

love

One of my favorite blogs posted the new J Dilla track the other day, and I believe the word K used to describe it was "uplifting". If this track is indicative of the stuff on The Shining, Dilla will have two albums on my year-end "Best of" list:

j dilla love (feat. Pharoahe Monch) mp3

*****************************

Contest:

Win tickets to see the Birdmonsters a week from today in NYC. Guess the score of tomorrow's Sweden-Germany World Cup match. Leave your answer in the comments. Winner gets a pair of tix.



Underrated Magazine & Crackers United Present:

Birdmonster
Tally Hall
The Talk
The Gaskets

@ Sin-E (New York, NY)
Friday, June 30, 2006
Free Sparks!

world cup update

oh, the shame

The U.S. was eliminated after their loss to Ghana, and Italy wins the group with a 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic. Looks like the boys from Ghana (the Ghanarreans?) will take on Brasil in the round of 16, and Italy will likely face the Socceroos. In a symbolic display of Italy owning the Czechs, here's a photo of Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon's (oops) girlfriend, Czech supermodel Alena Seredova.

what strange machines we are

Austin's Peter and the Wolf have just released their new record, Experiments in Junk, featuring Red Hunter and his crew (just about every cool musician in Austin plays on this record, I think). Here's a sample:

Peter & the Wolf Strange Machines mp3

In lieu of a writeup on the band, I'll direct you to Red's highly entertaining interview with the Austinist, in which he talks briefly about his upcoming sailboat tour, where his songwriting inspiration comes from ("the occipital lobe"), and what he's been listening to lately (Destroyer and Jolie Holland, among others). I was also happy he mentioned Keith Zarriello of The Shivers as one of the best songwriters of our time, because I love this song:

The Shivers Beauty mp3

elsewhere:

I regretfully had to miss The Walkmen show last night, but my boy D took some solid shots of the band and was kind enough to send them my way:






World Cup:

Tons of action already this morning, as Ghana is already up on the U.S., 2-1 at halftime. I hate to say it, but I don't really care if the U.S. advances. Yeah, I know, national pride and all that, but they're just not a very likeable squad. My Italians are looking good, up 1-0 on the Czechs at the half. EDIT: If you're stuck at work like me and can't watch the games, you can listen live online here. Thanks to Jonny for the heads up on that.

Beck + Jamie Lidell: Live in Dallas

Well, I'm pretty bummed out about missing Talk Demonic and Man Man, but overall, I think that as sterile a venue as it is, Nokia was the place to be last night. I'm sure plenty of people would argue that point, but Jamie Lidell and Beck were amazing. If I could be one performer right now, it'd probably be Lidell. The guy does some crazy shit and all of his improvised beats, looped vocals, and beatboxing usually come out sounding perfect. And I feared that Beck's puppet show was going to be downright corny, but it turned out to be pretty damn cool. Oh, and first person to get me an mp3 of "1000 BPM" wins a prize. That song is the jam. Here are some photos from the evening (click for larger image):



Jamie Lidell













Elsewhere:

A block of Lower Greenville went up in flames yesterday afternoon, including the Arcadia Theater. The Dallas Observer Blog was on the scene, complete with the requisite "the Arcadia Fire" and "the Theater Fire" jokes.

Here's my SIRIUS Blog Radio Week IV Playlist. Check out this little drop Lady Sov did for the show. She was really cool, and Mike Skinner was kind enough to intro "Pranging Out" for me too:

Lady Sovereign SIRIUS Blog Radio intro/Bear impression mp3

1. Lady Sovereign--"Random"
2. M.I.A.--"China Girl (Diplo Mix)"
3. DJ Nature--"The Greatest"
4. Cansei De Ser Sexy--"Let's Make Love (XXXChange mix)"
5. Hollertronix--"Staring at the Sun"
6. Love is All--"Make Out Fall Out Make Up"
7. Sonic Youth--"Bull in the Heather"
8. Fiery Furnaces--"Teach Me Sweetheart"
9. Prototypes--"Je Ne Te Connais Pas"
10. The Streets--"Pranging Out"
11. Soul President--"Got to Have It"
12. Think About Life--"What the Future Might Be"
13. Cassettes Won't Listen--"Cutting Balloons"
14. Phoenix--"Long Distance Call"
15. The Walkmen--"Another One Goes By"
16. Stars--"One More Night"
17. The Zombies--"This Will Be Our Year"
18. St. Vincent--"Paris is Burning"
19. The Shivers--"Beauty"
20. Van Morrison--"Sweet Thing"
21. Martin Crane--"On an Evening"
22. The Wrens--"Happy"
23. Cassettes Won't Listen--"Cut Your Hair"
24. A Tribe Called Quest--"Lyrics to Go"
25. The Streets--"Two Nations"
26. Caetano Veloso--"Alfomega"
27. Gilberto Gil--Bat Macumba"
28. Os Mutantes--"Ando meio Desligado"
29. Tom Ze--"Gloria"

song of the evening: you're so warm

I received a myspace friend request recently from Athens, GA emcee/producer Jamie Radford, and I'm glad he found me, because I can't stop listening to this track. This is a perfect summer time instrumental, so warm (thus the title of the song?) and bubbly. At the risk of sounding overly sentimental, reminds me of being a little kid for some reason.

Jamie Radford You're So Warm mp3

Turns out Jamie was recently featured on Said the Gramophone (not sure how I missed that). Do check out more of his tracks, dude could end up being a hell of an emcee. (start with "Had to Let it Go")

ridiculous

What it dew with all the ridiculously good touring acts rolling through North Texas tonight? We'll go weeks without a decent show, then we have like 5 great shows on the same night? Someone needs to give these dudes some guidance. Anyway, we still haven't decided whether we'll be seeing Richard Swift/Talk Demonic/The Walkmen or Man Man/Lovely Feathers or Beck/Jamie Lidell or The Coup up in Denton, but it'll most likely be a combination of all, or at least some, of the above, reminiscent of this one time.

mp3:

The Walkmen Louisiana
Man Man Van Helsing Boombox

Of course, if you're not in North Texas today, there's only one place to be, and that's in your car listening to me on SIRIUS Left of Center Blog Radio.



Tonight's show is probably the best one yet, and I even somehow convinced Mike Skinner and Lady Sov to stop by to tell us what's really good...tune in to Channel 26 at 10 (9 central) to check it out.

If you don't have SIRIUS, go here and sign up for a free three day trial so you can listen online. All you need is an email address.

a concert for kinky and world cup update

One of the coolest local bills I've seen in a long time will take place Friday night at Sons of Hermann. The show is a benefit for the great Kinky Friedman, and local acts the Theater Fire (you know how much we love them) and PPT (one Dallas' best hip-hop acts) will grace the stage to help raise some money for the man who should be the next Governor of Texas.

The Theater Fire I Heard About You mp3

Top 10 Reasons to Vote for Kinky

world cup:


I couldn't find hot, so i went with "hilarious"

Mexico advanced to round two, despite a 2-1 loss to Portugal this morning. And in the most irrelevant sporting event in history, Angola and Iran played to a 1-1 tie. The big game of the day, however, is Argentina vs. Netherlands at 3 PM EST.

blogs:

1.618 is one of the coolest blogs out there right now. They post an mp3, along with a photographic representation of the song. None of those annoying "words" to mess it up. Browse the archives by clicking the colored squares at the bottom of the page to find songs by artists ranging from Bowie to Devendra to Ghostface.

POPFEST!

Before any of you guys say it, I'll go ahead and save you the trouble: the Mavs just completed the most epic choke-job in the history of sports. I'm talking some Phil Mickelson, Boston Red Sox in the '86 World Series, Buffalo Bills "wide right"-type shit.



Metrognome Collective has just announced the lineup for their First Annual POPFEST!. The POPFEST! festival is a benefit show for the Metrognome Collective, and will get underway at 8pm on Friday, June 30th, 2006. The lineup features some of Texas' most intriguing young bands, including gvsb favorites Teenage Symphony, Fishboy, and The Happy Bullets, and I'll give you three words why this is a can't miss fest:


Miss Maya Bond

mp3 (all highly recommended):

Fishboy Tree Star
Maya Bond Ghost Castle
Teenage Symphony Our Sad Prayer
The Happy Bullets The Vice and Virtue Ministry

Here's the full lineup:

The Beatdown-8:00
American Werewolf Academy-8:30
Hardin Sweaty and the Ready to Go-9:00
Tha Bracelets-9:30
Maya Bond-10:00
The Shapes-10:30
Ballroom Dancing-11:00
Teenage Symphony-11:30
Man Factory-12:00
Fishboy-12:30
Happy Bullets-1:00am

Elsewhere:

My boy Kevin has some live radio session mp3s from two of the West Coast's finest, Birdmonster and Cold War Kids.

And if you thought that CWK vs. Tapes 'n Tapes gridiron battle was intense, what about a Division Day vs. B-Monster rumble, complete with medieval weapons? I gotta give this one to D-Day. Come on Birdmonsters, what's so funny about a deadly knife fight?