From The Ship To The Sea

broke

2008-11-19T16:09:00.002-07:00

paper rival announced today they're breaking up. the new frontiers also broke up about a month ago in case you missed that one. bad time to be an astoundingly good indie band. i guess the recipe is to suck a lot, be total jerks to everyone and write annoying music. then if you do that, you can be huge!

leave a comment and fill in the blanks: who's amazing and will never get popular and who's horrible and shouldn't be popular?

tonight @ kilby

2008-11-13T09:21:00.003-07:00

tonight at kilby for only $6 you can catch some great locals and help a good cause. local artist tate law, of the lionelle, spooky moon, neon trees, allred and more was hit by a large truck a month ago and suffered some significant injuries. tonight's show at kilby is a benefit for tate to help him get back on his feet (once he gets back on his feet).

swing by tonight and catch sets from: mury, blackhounds, all time ending, loom, the hotness, ask for the future and more...

It's been far too long.

2008-11-07T22:18:00.004-07:00

For those of you that missed Colour Revolt when they played the cafe this month, you missed one of the best shows that cafe ever had. here is a video of the song Naked and Red.

Band of Annuals and Joshua James tonight @ Kilby Court

2008-11-07T16:11:00.011-07:00

This post is a little late, I meant to get it up much earlier today so you guys could have a chance to read it and go to the show tonight. Either way, you need to become fans of both of these musicians.

We are all big fans of both Band of Annuals and Joshua James here at From The Ship to The Sea (that is subtle humor, that will probably only make me laugh). Tonight will truly be an incredible show. I'm starting to feel like Conan O'Brien. Have you ever noticed he says that every night?

Band of Annuals are one of those SLC bands that everyone knows, everyone loves, and should totally be signed to a big indie label. They make really great alt-country, easy going, music. With both female and male vocals that would be successful on just on their own, it's hard to deny these guys.

Joshua James is what I like to call a "you make me jealous, and want to be a musician" musician. One of those singer songwriters that is just different enough to make a name for himself, but is also just as pleasing to the ear of even the most average of listeners (I'm talking C-minuses here people). If you like the social and political commentary of Conor Oberst, then you will like Joshua James.

I really don't think there is any way that you can be disappointed if you go tonight. However, I could totally see how you would be disappointed if you read this tomorrow and have already missed the show...

My bad.

If that is the case, check out the links, buy some albums, make some friends, sleep on their couches, call your mother only once a week, and only eat goat cheese. Life will be so much better.

Making sense only 68% of the time,
Tim

last night. last show.

2008-11-06T16:22:00.007-07:00

the show last night was amazing! asher, emme & denison are incredibly talented folks. thanks SO much to everyone for coming out & supporting the cafe. we love you.

Crooked Fingers tonight @ Urban Lounge

2008-11-06T14:53:00.004-07:00

Chances are you caught these guys for free this summer during the twilight series at Gallivan Plaza. If you were on top of your game and read this blog often you would have also purchased two for one tickets for tonights show at Slowtrain.

Either way, they're playing tonight, and it will be a good show. Crooked Fingers have been at it for years, and know how to rock various groups of peoples socks off. Bet me a millions dollars that you won't like it... go ahead.

I feel like I have posted this video already

future billionaire,
Tim

almost here...

2008-11-05T15:49:00.001-07:00

denison is in salt lake and so is the invisible children crew. the snow has stopped and we're about to head over to newsong underground for the end of an era...tickets are still available at the door.

denison witmer, emme packer, seafinch
newsong underground
859 s 800 e
$12 at the door

Mark Kozelek release in December

2008-11-05T14:20:00.005-07:00

Mark Kozelek, singer for Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters, is set to release an album of covers on December 9th. Keep an eye out for that one, I'm sure it will challenge many albums to make it on multiple Top Ten lists for 2008.

In case you haven't done so already, check out Sun Kil Moon's "Tiny Cities". It's an album of Modest Mouse covers and it will get you excited to buy this next album.

listen

I'm drinking coca coca cola,
Tim

best handbill ever?

2008-11-03T22:18:00.002-07:00

it just might be. plus it's all about people taking care of people. which we love.

addicted

2008-11-03T15:27:00.003-07:00

so my latest musical addiction has been this little 2 man band from new york city called bears repeating. the first time i listened to their song doctors i replayed it at least 6 times. all i can say is i love the hell out of it & i got that phrase from joey & rory who came & played at my office today (but that's another entry yet to come). check out bears repeating on myspace & let me know what you think.

not a scene?

2008-11-03T14:28:00.002-07:00

so we have copeland, lovedrug and lydia tonight and also phanton planet, the maine and brobecks as well? even if these aren't your favorite bands, you have to be impressed with all that on a monday night.

narratives

2008-11-03T13:15:00.004-07:00

i hate christmas music. hate it. it's the worst thing you could possibly do to someone i think. but there are exceptions. there are a few holiday albums i can handle and even enjoy. of course anything bing crosby recorded (mele kalikimaka is hawaii's way...) and i think most people would agree that sufjan steven's 4-disc work of holiday music is quality and an interesting take on many holiday stalwarts.

josh rosenthal's new ep, narratives is also an exception and represents an original christmas album. the album begins with a standard you'd expect (o come, o come emmanual) that would fit in any holiday mix, but then leaves the familiar, over-trod path of traditional "holiday" music and heads in its' own direction. narratives is marked by original tracks that establish josh's personal view on christmas. in his own words, he's not the biggest fan of christmas or christmas music either. tracks like "this changes everything" and "before i go" could be a part of any album really. they deal honestly with christmas themes, but i honestly don't catagorize them as "christmas songs."

my biggest reservation about the ep is the glaring absence of mele kalikmaka. i even checked on itunes for bonus tracks and it wasn't there. i did discover that narratives is selling on itunes for $4.95 though which was worth discovering. i've heard josh play a few of these in person and they play well live. we may not feel like it today, but very soon we'll all feel like cozying up to someone we love and playing some holiday music. when you do, this is an ep you'll be glad you have. of course bing won't be far behind. i'll keep looking for bonus tracks.

who will give us love?

2008-10-31T13:49:00.002-06:00

almost a month ago, tate from the lionelle and spooky moon was hit while riding his scooter home from practice. short story, he's going to be out of commission for a while. in the midst of this bad situation, many of his friends in salt lake's artist community are doing what they can to help.

on thursday, november 13th, blackhounds, mury, the hotness, all time ending and sam from ask for the future are playing kilby court. it's $6 at the door and all the money goes to help tate once he gets back on his feet (he shattered his pelvis so it could be a while). kilby's donating the venue, the bands are all playing for free and we're handling promotion. please pass the info on and help rally support for tate. let's sell out kilby and have fun helping someone we all love.

Leona Naess Monster

2008-10-31T13:39:00.005-06:00

Leona Naess is a singer songwriter from London who is now living in New York and making a living by writing really great music. I was able to see her a few days ago when she opened for Ray Lamontagne.

She is either a bit nuts, or she was a bit drunk... or maybe she's just eccentric. Either way, I was pleasantly surprised when she began singing, and although her songs can follow a certain pattern at times, I think she is definitely blog worthy. From the stage she is a bit awkward, and at times you feel a bit uncomfortable, but then she starts singing again and all is well. Personally I think one of her band members is actually Matt Sharp pretending to be a bad drummer, but I could be wrong. She just released an album this summer, out on Verve Forecast Records, check it out (how can you not with the incredible review I just gave?). Truly, the music is good.

I also hear she was engaged to Ryan Adams, so that might explain the complete insanity ;)

This one I do not have a crush on,
Tim

Girl Talk tonight @ In The Venue

2008-10-30T15:39:00.005-06:00

If you want to have a seizure, seizure of ill beats that is, then you can go to Girl Talk tonight at In The Venue and dance your little heart out. Or you can watch the video below.

Girl Talk has been updating their myspace blog by posting videos from different cities off of their current tour (the very same tour that comes through SLC tonight, oh my!). This video is from Tucson, on the 23rd. It made me have a baby, and I'm not even pregnant... It's that electronically intense, don't ask me how it works.

You little dancers can go and wear bright colors (or apparently Pittsburgh Steelers jerseys?), and bring your glow sticks, and your fancy shoes, and dance 'til it's election day.

Pretty sure you can also download their album for whatever price you want como Radiohead. Try it out.

Now I have to take care of this thing, and it cries all the time,
Tim

Look to the right, to the right!

2008-10-30T08:55:00.006-06:00

If you read the ship regularly, or if you are just very observant, you know that we like to list the best shows that Salt Lake has to offer. If you're crazy observant you'll notice that we put some little itty bitty stars next to some of those shows.

Why? you ask.

Well my best friends all across the world and even my best friends in the whole universe (sorry too much McCain these days) it's because tickets to those shows are being offered for an extra special price at slowtrain. Ladies and Gentleman, get ready for a 2-for-1 ticket price. That's right. Your dreams just came true.

But you have to act now. This extra special offer is only good until Nov. 1st. So pick a show you like, and go get a crazy good deal on it.

Personally I think I am going to choose Crooked Fingers and Sole and the Skyrider band, but that's just me.

Disclaimer: If this post is interpreted as pro-McCain in any way it is purely coincidental and unintentional, and the sarcasm is not coming across in text... really.

I like boiled peanuts,
Tim

free music

2008-10-29T23:24:00.006-06:00

thanks to my old kentucky blog (and seriously if you don't read it, you should), denison witmer has released a free, 4-song ep available FREE for download. it's perfect timing for us since his show is this wednesday.

i can't help but worry that this is another show we'll work our butts off for promoting and a few people will show up and then a month later everyone will wish they would have shelled out the $10 for. he's even kicking off his tour in salt lake city. this is going to be an amazing night of songwriters - buy a ticket!

How could I forget?!

2008-10-29T12:58:00.006-06:00

What am I doing talking about Missy Higgins (see below) when 3OH3! is coming tonight?

Asher introduced me to these guys a few months ago, and all I could do was laugh, cause it's actually good.

Who knows whether or not they started this thing out as a joke or not, but it's not a joke anymore.

3OH3! are white boys from Boulder, CO who rap like Three 6 Mafia. It's actually kind of ridiculous... cause, I'm not kidding, it's good. Really it is. I don't know how. I don't know who they sold their soul to in order to make these beats, but it works. Sometimes I don't believe it, but then I here them on the radio of a retail store in Salt Lake (that actually happened) and I think, I guess people really do like them. How? I just don't know.

My apologies to Missy Higgins, but if you are going to choose a show tonight, I would definitely recommend this one. It'll be way more fun. Really. They'll be at The Avalon theater.

Too funny,
Tim

Missy Higgins @ Club Sound tonight

2008-10-29T12:38:00.007-06:00

Guys, if you were sitting there thinking "man, I really wish I could get this certain someone to make out with me tonight", go to club sound tonight and it'll be like magic (come on, we all know you were thinking that, don't try to deny it).

Joshua Radin is mostly annoying, but possible to get through without killing yourself (harsh? maybe).

Missy Higgins will be absolutely enjoyable, so much so it will be worth sitting through the other guy.

You can stream their albums on both of their websites, so I'll let you make the decision on how much you like them, but it will be a good show. Mark my words.

Here is a video...

Yes, I understand that sometimes I listen to some of the girliest music ever, but I can't help it, I was raised on the cardigans and the cranberries!

Tim

painstakingly beautiful

2008-10-28T23:44:00.004-06:00

relevant magazine reviewed denison witmer's new cd, carry the weight in their new issue that came in the mail this week.

here's their review:

"with is meandering and myopic style, denison witmer is folksier, less orchestrated than sujan stevens - a one-time touring partner who played on his last release in 2005. a more bouyant witmer offers up confessional songs like "chesapeake watershed" - which references home life and insomnia - and the title track, where he admits he's "not ashamed to say i don't know anymore." "song of songs" breaks into full-on simon and garfunkel mode and gets a little humdrum, but this philadelphia songwriter can't help adding subtle grunge undertones (see "if you are the writer") that loosen and liven up his acoustic pattern-matching style.

on some songs, there's a painstakingly beautiful femaile vocal part - thanks to michigan singer/songwriter rosie thomas - that accomplishes the same goal as the grungy bits, but you never really get the impression that witmer wants to wake you from a nap. hed rather just keep you right on the edge of dreaming and being fully alive."

snag denison's new cd next wednesday at newsong underground (859 s 800 e) or in stores the following wednesday on the militia group.

Ray Lamontagne tonight and Elephant 6 orchestra at NPR

2008-10-28T12:33:00.006-06:00

I know I'm a bit behind on this, but you have to give me a break. So I missed a blog post on Monday, sue me!

If you are unfamiliar with Elephant 6 you are either 1. under the age of 18, or 2. in need of a serious Neutral Milk Hotel injection. Either way, you can go to the all songs considered site today and download a recording of a live show of the Elephant 6 orchestra in Chicago on Oct. 21st.

Elephant 6 was a record label in the 90's that released albums for classic indie rock bands like Neutral Milk Hotel, Elf Power, The Apples in Stereo, and Beulah. It eventually came to an end after most of the bands stopped releasing music. However, it has left us with the Elephant 6 orchestra, a musical grab back consisting of some 15 musicians that once played for the many bands involved with Elephant 6 through the years (can anyone say Of Montreal?). The recording up at npr.org has the often reclusive Jeff Mangum of NMH which should be enough for many of you to stop reading now and go download it.

Also, tonight Ray Lamontagne will be at Saltair. If you're not already going, and you read this, and you have money, and your wife/mom/girlfriend/cousin (who knows?) will let you, you should go. Paul Jacobsen will be opening. He played at the cafe once upon a moon, when we still existed. It was one of my favorite shows we had there, small, intimate, great music, good friends, happy memories to be sure. I'm pretty excited.

I'll take some pictures tonight, however my camera situation is, well... bad. We'll see if they ever make it to the internet :)

With all humor aside, I honestly believe tonight has the potential of being on of those "stick in your memory, remember the smell, taste, sound, girl, perfect night" situations. You should honestly consider it.

Tim

Voodoo Music Festival

2008-10-24T14:18:00.007-06:00

The Voodoo Music Festival starts today. I wish I could say that I was going to be there, and was going to take pictures, write reviews, etc... However, we aren't a huge music blog (yet). Instead, this weekend I'll be moving a bunch of stuff to my new apartment, helping Asher tile, and doing laundry. I'll listen to all of the great acts that will be there this weekend though, you'd better believe it. You can also watch the festival, as far as I can tell, live as it is happening in New Orleans on their home page.

Here is a list of just a few of the bands performing:
R.E.M.
TV On the Radio
Devotchka
Erykah Badu
Mars Volta
Cold War Kids
Lupe Fiasco
Wyclef!
Joss Stone
Eli "Paperboy" Reed and the True Loves
Tokyo Police Club

Here's to becoming bloggers with power and free tickets to music festivals.

Cheers.

This'll be really quick

2008-10-24T10:27:00.003-06:00

Take a look at Peter Broderick. The kid is only 21 years old and has a more than impressive musical resume. He's been doing studio work for all kinds of artists, Horse Feathers, Loch Lomond, M. Ward, She & Him, along with a number of other well known European acts. His solo stuff is really great, so you should definitely check it out.

My personal opinion is that it would behoove you to jump on his bandwagon now, before he is the new bee's knees (That is quite possibly the nerdiest, and worst sentence I've ever written).

Fredrik (did you know I like Swedish music)

2008-10-23T10:21:00.004-06:00

This is probably getting to a point where it might be annoying. How much of the new music that I talk about on this site comes from Sweden?

90 percent?

Maybe. But I can’t change the way I feel! I love it, and I don’t care what you, or anyone else says! I’m my own person, and I’ll listen to incredible Swedish pop my whole life if I need to. Nobody puts Baby in the corner!

Moment of silence for Patrick Swayze’s cancer…

Moving on.

Fredrik, the latest in my Northern European infatuations, is someone you absolutely need to check out. That's easy to do, by the way, because you can stream their entire album on their website. Check out the first song titled "Black Fur" on their album “Na Na Ni” and you’ll be sold immediately. If you aren’t, well, my apologies.

Like many of the artists coming out of Scandinavia these days Fredrik is very creative, and use a multitude of instruments and musicians to make them work. Unlike many of the artists coming out of Scandinavia however, they don’t spit out straight up pop music that won't require a lot of thought. Many of Fredriks songs are dark, and moody, but still keep you hooked, and they won't bring you to a point of unrelenting boredom. They may not be Sweden's next big thing (I’m from Barcelona) but if you’re looking for some great indie pop, that you’ll want to listen to more than just a few times, check out Fredrik.

...and what would a blog post be without a video?

Fredrik - 1986 from The Kora Records on Vimeo.

Jolie Holland @ Urban Lounge tonight

2008-10-22T09:42:00.008-06:00

If you have heard Jolie Holland before you know that her usual sound is something you would probably hear in the back country hills of West Virginia. It is a sound I have loved for a number of years now, and it's what I was expecting when I saw that she was coming to SLC. However, I've since come to hear songs off her latest album "The living and the dead" and I've come to realize that things in the world of Jolie Holland have changed.

Her voice is still just as good as ever but now she has an entire band backing her up, rather than just her acoustic guitar. The album is also a lot more produced than her previous works, which is not necessarily a bad thing. After hearing the new album, I've forgotten all about the old stuff (that's not true at all, I love the old stuff, what am I talking about?), and I'm even more excited about the show.

I can't recommend that you go see Jolie at the Urban Lounge tonight. It's going to be a really great time. This you will have to trust me on. If it's not, I'll buy you a popsicle... in December.

Check her myspace, and go buy the album. Here is a video as always:

denison witmer

2008-10-20T10:01:00.004-06:00

well it's a few weeks away and i'm nervous. our last show, denison witmer is the big one. we have every penny wrapped up in this one and everyone has said they're coming, but you can never really tell what that means. we're really excited that emme packer is on the bill and also seafinch. seafinch is asher from the cafe. it's been over two years since he played in salt lake so it should be a really fun night. most of us from the cafe have tickets for $10, please contact us and we'll get them to you and save you the extra service charges or day of fees.

in other news, i was able to share a meal with the colour revolt boys on their way from oxford, mississippi to san francisco, california. they're heading out for 6 weeks before a 4 month break to write a new record.

Mountain Goats and Kaki King tonight @ In The Venue

2008-10-18T07:23:00.003-06:00

Tonight is your chance to see these guys play together before their collaborative Black Pear Tree EP comes out. You can download and stream one of the songs off the EP, Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle, from Pitchfork here. Keep in mind the song is sung from the perspective of Toad.

Since I love making things easy for you, and if you don't want to go to another page (I agree with you, you shouldn't leave) you can just watch a 'video' for the song here:

As always, if you go to the show and take any pictures, feel free to send them to us and we'll post them with credit (to the max).

fromtheshiptothesea@gmail.com

Ray Lamontagne moves to Saltair

2008-10-17T18:20:00.001-06:00

The Ray Lamontagne show that was going to be at the Murray Theater has been moved to Saltair because of demand and need for a larger venue. If you had tickets to the Murray Theater they will still be honored.

Mine were will call so I'm still trying to figure out how that will work. I'll update here when I find out.

If you don't have tickets, see the post I made a few days ago and go to the show.

Am I crazy or is Ryan Adams?

2008-10-17T13:29:00.003-06:00

I think chances are Ryan is a bit more nuts than myself, not that I want to paint the wrong picture or anything, he makes awesome music, but... well... what can I say? The dude seems a little unstable. See "Halloween Head", this, or his blog. I like him just as much as the next guy, but I mean... come on.

Either way, he and his band have a new album coming out soon called "Cardinology". You can pre-order it on itunes, it's going to be good. It doesn't mean you're nuts if you like it, really it doesn't, I promise.

I feel more crazy just trying to find stuff for this post however. I know that he has been releasing cover songs in anticipation of the new album, but I can't find a link to them, and if I keep looking (like I have been for the past 1/2 hour) I might write a song about having a christmas tree head or something.

Here is a cover of Wonderwall by Oasis for your troubles.

Fleet Foxes @ In the Venue tonight

2008-10-16T10:20:00.002-06:00

You can still buy tickets at 24tix.com here

Not sure if any of us will be able to make it, but if you end up going take some pictures and send them to us. We'll post them and give you credit of course.

fromtheshiptothesea@gmail.com

Land of Talk

2008-10-16T08:38:00.004-06:00

If you made it out to the Broken Social Scene show at the Gallivan Plaza this summer chances are you had a pretty good time. There was also a very good chance that you watched the singer for Land of Talk without even knowing it. Land of Talk has been touring with BSS this summer, and they've been pushing their new album "Some are Lakes", which I must say I enjoy quite a bit.

Land of Talk has been gaining steam recently, with various positive album reviews from various blogs and websites, along with getting a lot of airplay on sirius radio (check out Left of Center online). The trio from Canada plays the rock and the roll just as good as anyone else does, and they've honed in on the incredible sound that occurs when female vocals meet electric guitars (see PJ Harvey, Cat Power, Pink Nasty, Des Ark, etc and etc...).

Do it,
Tim

The Swedes will never stop.

2008-10-15T15:27:00.004-06:00

Quickly, let's just get this out of the way, if I was a large body of land surrounded by other large bodies of land separated by political lines drawn on pieces of paper, I would totally marry sweden and make little baby bodies of land... Maybe that has already happened and that's why there are so many islands off the coast of Sweden?

Moving on...

For whatever reason, the Swedes know how to make music. From Abba to Abba cover bands, the music from Scandinavia is incredible.

Immanu El is no exception. They produce a kind of post-rock that I can never resist, no matter how hard I try. Don't be scared by that label though, they only have one song that is 10 minutes long, and it's really good. On top of the classic 2 guitar/vocal/bass/drums lineup they have Jonatan Hammer who also plays keyboards, guitar, cello, trumpet, and does samples. If that doesn't peak your interest you should probably check yourself before you wreck yourself.

They released their first album in the fall of '07, and they seem poised to gain some ground in the industry in the near future. You can buy their album "they'll come, they come" on Itunes.

If you like post-rock (i.e. guitars with delay) you should at least give them a chance.

Ray Lamontagne - New CD, same old beard

2008-10-14T11:04:00.006-06:00

Ray Lamontagne's new CD "Gossip In The Grain" was released today. Stop reading this and run to the nearest cd store, or just click over to your itunes and buy it NOW!

Upon first listen (honestly, I'm not even done with the entire CD yet) I think it will be one of my top five albums of the year. It'll probably surpass Ray's last effort, "Till The sun Turns Black", in terms of an overall album when it's all said and done. The songs on Gossip seem much more put together, and dare I say a little more experimental? With a song like "I Still Care For You" that mixes Ray's acoustic strumming with droning guitars and busy jazz drumming, it makes you feel like he is taking his music to another level. However, soft simple songs like "Winter Birds" show you that a good voice and an acoustic guitar is all anyone really ever needs.

The song "Meg White" is not his best work, in fact, I think it's a pretty awful choice for a single, but you have to give him some credit for having the guts to write an entire song about the White Stripes drummer.

We all know I'm still honing the craft of making a well written album review, and we all know that my usual ending to a post is "it's good, trust me, just listen to it". I'll try to not to end with that this time. If you like Ray Lamontagne, even just slightly, I think you'll enjoy this album.

Current song - A Fall Through - Ray Lamontagne

(It's Genius, just listen to it)

interview

2008-10-13T12:14:00.003-06:00

here's a link to a local blog that interviewed me recently about the cafe, the local scene, my favorite locals and trends in music.

gavin's underground

dension witmer show

2008-10-08T21:54:00.001-06:00

emme packer has been added to the denison / seafinch show at newsong underground on wednesday, november 5th. tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

r.i.p. - thanks.

2008-10-05T23:13:00.004-06:00

i want to start by saying thanks.

thanks to all the great people who have worked at the cafe,
helped out, played, supported, sold tickets, put up posters,
bought a ticket, added us on myspace and spread the word
about our little venue that could.

but couldn’t.

we’re done. we don’t want to be. but we are.

the church has been forced to buy out of their lease of the
cafe and effective immediately, they’re out.

so we’re out.

the church that formerly leased the cafe has been amazing.
they belived in us, encouraged us, worked around us,
cleaned up after us, repaired stuff, and have generally been
some of the nicest people we’ve ever known. they hate that
they’re losing their cafe, but there’s no way around it. it’s
been a big part of their church for almost a decade.

so now it’s time to rip the bandaid off. no more shows at the
cafe. no more us. for a while it looked like we’d get to do a
few farewell shows, but it didn’t work out.

we might come back someday as something else somewhere
down the line, but for right now, here’s what we have:

DENISON WITMER & SEAFINCH - WEDNESDAY, NOV. 5th
newsong underground - 859 south 800 east

tickets are $10 in advance. if the cafe has meant anything to
you, please buy a ticket. we’re flying denison in beacuse
he’s that amazing.

we’re proud of what we did and we couldn’t have done it
without you.

sincerely,
chad, megan, lawrence, paul, sami, asher,
cierra, tanner, keni, vanessa, tim

the avett brothers - murder in the city

2008-10-03T00:34:00.002-06:00

november should be fun

2008-09-19T15:33:00.002-06:00

just confirmed:

denison witmer, seafinch - wednesday, november 5th
ivoryline, in:aviate and tba - saturday, november 8th

tickets will be on sale at www.24tix.com and we'll also have them available too if you want to swing by during a show.

TONIGHT!

2008-09-17T11:48:00.002-06:00

making lemonade

2008-09-09T11:19:00.004-06:00

sam sorenson's life in music looks like the map montage from all the indiana jone's movies: you know the one with the glowing red line that slowly works its' way around before finally arriving at the destination. sam' been a constant in the local music scene for the better part of a decade, spending time with several bands, side projects and solo efforts.

with each band (moshmallows, larusso, ask for the future) sam's effort levels can't be criticized. i've personally seen the love and care he puts into everything he creates and his newest project, ask for the future is no exception. to read a glowing review, pick up this month's slug and read it. personally i just appreciate that sam's not going away. he's writing songs more suited to his style and taste than he ever has and it works. he's happy in his songs, he's upbeat about where things are going and when those two things are in place, it results in a better experience for everyone.

proof of his work ethic is aftf's new ep, another love. sam took all the frustration of his abrupt departure with larusso and funneled into new songs, a new approach and a solid ep. be warned though: it's catchy and you will find yourself wanting to hear it again and humming it during the day. so don't go listen to it unless you have $6 and an itunes account. catch sam and ask for the future on friday at the cafe with mesa drive, blackhounds and they heyday.

it's just getting better

2008-09-05T12:09:00.002-06:00

well all of here are really excited for monday. it's our first show after a summer off, the cafe will be all picked up after our break-in and one of our fav bands, colour revolt is helping us kick off the year.

but it's getting better. daytrotter just posted colour revolt's daytrotter session from earlier this year. and in wonderful daytrotter tradition, you can download alternate versions of "naked and red," "a siren," "moses of the south," and a cover of "these few presidents" by why?. these are great for any colour revolt fan, but if you're new to them, i would still suggest listening to the original versions first so you get an idea of how creative and unique the alternate versions are.

thursday - shows update

2008-09-04T21:12:00.002-06:00

a few things for you to keep you updated...

- nothing's changed on the looming lease of the cafe. this means we'll just keep booking more shows!

- we added one show and dropped another: this providence and everybody else will play the cafe on wednesday, september 17th and the catherine show on friday, september 26th has been cancelled. the tour decided that they didn't want to tour outside of california so they dropped their salt lake city date.

- some other shows we'll get up soon: brightwood on tuesday, october 21st and sleeping at last on friday, october 24th. we're TRYING to line something up with denison witmer, keep your fingers crossed!

and we've said it a lot lately, but seriously: colour revolt will be the best band we'll EVER get into the cafe. come check them out on monday!

review me patiently, review me honestly

2008-08-28T13:44:00.007-06:00

it's not too often that you can take an honest listen to indie-pop and like it beyond the fun and zip of indie-pop. with brighten's early love ep though, any music listener can take something away from it. of course it's the same fun, well-written, tight melodies we expect from brighten, but this ep marks a clear line between the adolescent record making of their past and real life, song writing of grown up's with grown up struggles and feelings. not to take away anything from brighten's two previous independent releases. it's never enough to stay the same and brighten has been foreced to grow up and mature in the past years since king vs. queen was released in 2007.

for justin richards, song writer and brighten frontman, he has a lot to write about these days: the well-documented disaster with an unknown label (if you don't know, don't ask: they won't talk about it), releasing king vs. queen independently, broken relationships, changes in the band, being broke, and wrecking their van last spring have been more than enough lyrical fuel to light the bonfire.

not that anyone in brighten would have a bad attitude though. for brighten, to be angry or bitter about any of it would represent a bigger failure than quitting and giving up.

"nobody ever writes about real love anymore. i wanted people to feel love and hear truth when they listened to it. i just tried to bring positivity back into music" says richards.

if the music industry made sense, brighten should leave behind the flashbang-graveyard that is indie-pop and become a household name. but as with most great bands, industry success remains tantalizingly elusive for brighten. and while they continue to be courted by records labels of all shape and size, the right deal with the right label continues to be justin's white whale. studio eyes will be watching this week as the early love is released (itunes, smartpunk) and as long as the early love is judged by it's quality and not the hype of the marketplace, brighten should be well on their way - with a van and with gas in the tank and on tours that make sense.

catch brighten with a novel form on saturday, september 13th at solid ground cafe.

ravens & chimes

2008-08-27T11:26:00.004-06:00

if you were inside my computer screen looking out at me you would see me happily bouncing around in my teal office chair. you would wonder what has me so happily dancing around & i would tell you "ravens & chimes!!!" this is my favorite new musical discovery so far this month. the tempo changes a lot in their songs, so each song is like a musical journey into a world with beautiful voices & pianos & i keep imagining a marching band somewhere in there. sorry but this is one of those bands that i like so much i have to write run-on sentences just to try to express my feelings of satisfaction & excitement. i want all their music on my ipod right now so i can live in this world until i'm ready to leave (which will be never because i love it too much.) Here is a bunch of their music on hype machine. i just found this video of them performing live at a radio station. once you get past the dj talking for 40 seconds the magic starts. enjoy!

carmel doesn't phase us (but it does suck)

2008-08-27T00:32:00.004-06:00

here's a couple of photos from last weeks' break in / juvenile destruct-o-mania at the cafe. it's disheartening, but we press on. thanks to all of you who emailed us, called us, left some comments offering to help clean up, etc. it means a whole lot. see you monday, september 8th for colour revolt and atherton.

apparently i've been missing out.

2008-08-26T16:54:00.005-06:00

i found kina grannis's youtube channel on accident when i was watching videos on fourfour. her video showed up after the mariah carey video i had been watching ended. This girl is freaking talented! turns out she is the #3 most subscribed to musician on youtube (according to her site) so i guess i'm the last to know about her. anyway, enjoy some lovely music from her. she talks a lot after videos so you can either get to know her sweet personality. if you're like me, you don't have the attention span to watch that part, so just press pause & move on to the next video.

a coconut story

2008-08-26T16:11:00.003-06:00

once upon a time on a beach somewhere, a palm tree grew from the sand. from that palm tree came two happy coconuts. one day a storm came thru & blew those coconuts from their happy home. lion came & kicked them past flamingos & into a ping pong game where one of the coconuts beheaded a ping pong player. then they rolled south to mexico where they played golf & flew with rubix cube hot air balloons. the coconuts feel from the sky into a lovely purple river where they met a friendly pineapple who gave them a lift over a waterfall & dropped them off in a sailor's boat where they sailed adjacent to the sunset.

Architecture in Helsinki - Like It Or Not from helsinkids on Vimeo.

enjoy this hand-stiched music video from architecture in helsinki.

broken into to, but not broken

2008-08-22T14:15:00.004-06:00

according to police reports, at sometime around 4 am this morning our beloved cafe was broken into and vandalized. there's definitely a lot of damage, but most of it was petty vandalism. while we're not sure who did it, we are sure that our shows will go on as planned and if anything, it has only strengthened our resolve to make these last shows our best ever. please help us by spreading the word that we're "not dead yet" despite this recent challenge. we'll keep plugging along and we sure hope you'll join us. we're sad that some people chose to do this, but we're thankful no one was hurt and we're excited for colour revolt on monday, september 8th (for discount tickets to that show, head over to our facebook and get on the rsvp list). we're also extremely thankful that the fellowship (the church that owns the building) already started clean up and repairs this morning and are committed to helping us make sure that the colour revolt show will happen and that things will be ready to go.

thanks for all your support and love and willingness to help us pick up the pieces. as always, we do this for love of people and music, certainly not stuff and money!

save money on cafe shows

2008-08-19T14:32:00.002-06:00

go add us on facebook and save money on cafe tickets. literally. here's what we've cooked up in our continuing effort to make the cafe fan friendly:

1. go to our facebook page (click on the logo).
2. under events on the right side, click on colour revolt.
3. RSVP for it (if you're going).
4. when you get to the cafe the night of the show, just tell the door that you're on the RSVP list and we'll charge you $6 to get in (for everyone not on the list it's $8).

we think that's easier than buying online tickets with their service charges and also better than asking bands to drive all over salt lake to sell you advance tickets. we're trying it on the colour revolt show and the brighten show and we'll see how it goes. we hope it goes well! our goal is full shows, happy bands and happy fans. while you're there, check out some photos, add a few of your own and if you can, tell some friends as well.

best show ever? we think so

2008-08-18T16:13:00.001-06:00

we could not be more proud to announce this show! every band is incredible. SO worth a few bucks on a monday night. and it's our first show back so we're hoping you'll lend some support! advance tickets are cheap for that very reason: it's sort of our thank-you to all our supporters and friends! $8 at the door is still a bargain! atherton and paul jacobsen will round out the night. we're not quite sure how we got so lucky to get all this talent in one room; let's just pretend we're good at all this.

another show

2008-08-15T14:18:00.002-06:00

and also:

september 26th: catherine, sever your ties and athens.

good stuff.

update

2008-08-13T20:03:00.002-06:00

two things to update you on...

1) the end is indeed near

due to economic pressures, the church that owns the cafe has to put it on the market. they hope to sublease it for the next 3-5 years until the economy turns around a bit.

what does this mean for the cafe and the shows there? well first off, they won't last forever. we will however book shows until the very last day possible! when that will be though, we have no idea. it won't be right away, but it is looming in the near future.

will we do shows somewhere else? well we have no idea. we make about $20 a year on shows after paying all our bills so it's unlikely we could find a place with rent that cheap (if you know someone though, let us know).

are we mad? absolutely not. the church that owns the place has always been amazing to us and allowed to us to run shows out of their building at a minimal cost. their love for what we do has actually hurt them financially as they probably should have leased the space to someone else long ago (someone who earns more than $20 a year). they've been upfront and honest with us every step of the way and we wish them all the best.

2) in the meantime

in the meantime we have some REALLY great shows lined up:

september 8th: colour revolt
september 12th: the heyday
september 13th: brighten
september 16th: the photo atlas
september 19th: boomsnake, snuffaluffagus
september 23rd: paxtin, the anix, cromwell
october 6th: in:aviate, the stiletto formal, man without wax

so if it has to end, what a way to do it. we'll add more shows to that as much as we can, we're hoping you'll show your incredible love and support until the fun has to end. we are still looking for local support, if you're interested, hit us up.

and seriously, we don't do this for money so to have all the support you've shown us is really huge. it's why we do what we do. we're sad to see it end at the cafe, but you never know what the future holds.

pretty good show tomorrow at Kilby Court

2008-07-02T16:36:00.002-06:00

It's a Saddle Creek extravaganza at Kilby Court tomorrow.

Here's the lineup:
Son Ambulance
Maria Taylor
Nik Freitas (who, if I'm not mistaken, was just signed to Connor Oberst's Team Love record label)
Johnathan Rice (who isn't signed to Saddle Creek, but good nonetheless)

If it were just Maria Taylor and Nik Freitas I'd want to go, but throw on Son Ambulance and Johnathan Rice and this show just became really really awesome.

You're hearing this from another venues blog so you know it has to be good, but if you don't believe me, watch these:

Let's make this short and sweet.

2008-07-01T22:35:00.003-06:00

By now it should be painfully obvious that I'm a sucker for some good indie folk. Hopefully you do too, or else most of the things I talk about are of no use to you.

I stumbled upon this Colorado artist on accident, and I'm really happy that I did. Gregory Alan Isakov reminds me of Rufus Wainwright but with a guitar, or Jeff Tweedy with more banjo, or linkin park but with more rapping... (that's comedy). Awesome folk melodies. Good singing. How can you say "no" to a banjo? I'll be listening to this guy for a while I think. I'll have to go in to his albums, and touring, and all that jazz on another post, because he deserves it.

As always, here is his myspace, however, sadly there is no video yet.

Anais Mitchell or I'm reclaiming my street cred

2008-06-29T01:32:00.004-06:00

It's really too bad I didn't write this post a couple months ago. If I had I could have alerted you to the fact that Anais Mitchell was about to head out for a European tour, and then tour for a few weeks across the states. As it stands now, it looks like she is just finishing her US tour with a few shows in the northeast, and then only popping up to play here and there afterwards. I'm always telling you guys that you can't live in the past though, we've got to move on with our lives. Right? Don't I always say that?

So, I'll just provide you with a link to a GREAT Anais MItchell song, and a link to her myspace, and highly recommend her to you. I was recently fortunate enough to catch her show in Austin, TX and it definitely left me wanting more. Her music is unique, passionate, and just downright really nice to listen to. She completely stole the show in Austin, and I really think that we'll see big things from her in the future. There is one little issue about working on a "folk opera", which I commend her for going after, but as soon as she gets that out of her system I'll look forward to another album to follow up 2007's "the brightness".

Anyway, as I always do, I'll leave you with a video... Watch it.

Utah Arts Festival opening night review

2008-06-27T11:53:00.005-06:00

Last night I made it out to the arts festival and had a great time. I was only there for a couple hours, so by no means is this a review of the entire event, or even of the entire night seeing as I had to take off a little premature, but you'll take what I give you ;)

Artists:
I was incredibly impressed with local artists Iosua & Andrienne Taeoalii, coming from Murray, UT. They had some really great spray paint picture of various popular icons, both modern and historical. I'm certainly not an art critic, so forgive me if I sound green, but their stuff was really great. It really wasn't all that expensive, their pieces sold for $65, and if I had and extra $65 that I didn't have to spend on gas I totally would have picked up a spray painted picture of Che Gueverra.

Runner up, the guy that made this stuff. Sorry whoever you are, I forgot your name, but I remember your website to buy your stuff, so that has to count for something.

Music:
Usually when I'm watching a band and the 60's generation, who are now well in to their 50's, start doing there woodstock dancing I realize it's time to leave. Last night was different. Janiva Magness rocked my world. I know this is probably going to ruin my street cred completely, but I can't sit here and just lie to myself! I won't do it! She's a blues singer, and her band just did there thing last night. Everyone was dancing on the grass, kissing loved ones, drinking goats milk (I know weird right?), and just having a good time. By far the musical high light of the night.

I was really disappointed in Kid Madusa just cause I think Linsday Heath is awesome, and usually I really like the music that she makes. This time I didn't even want to stick around and finish listening to the set... sad.

yes i did always wonder what eminem and regina spektor sounded like together

2008-06-26T23:24:00.004-06:00

go buy girl talk's feed the animal's tonight. it's real good. nice review.

sorry...it's a must have for anyone the likes flosstradamus and stuff like that. gregg gillis takes about 200 different samples and somehow mixes them all together into one seamless piece of music. and he's good at it, but he doesn't take himself too seriously. for example: he throw m.i.a. over the old cranberries song. he also throws in the likes of metallica, ac/dc, queen, dexys midnight runners, ll cool j, salt n pepa, of montreal, sting, beastie boys, and well, you get the idea. you'll catch yourself smiling as you listen to this cd because it's funny to hear eminem layered over regina spektor.

girltalk is doing a download it at your own price a la radiohead's in rainbows. i'll save you a google and tell you to click here. if you buy it for more than $5 you get some cool stuff and if you spend more than $10 you get even more stuff. i seriously think this is the new face of the music industry, but that's another post for another day (or month the way i've been posting!).

and as always, thanks to lindsay for the heads up.

How many of you subscribe to the interface?

2008-06-25T21:49:00.004-06:00

It's a free video podcast that you can subscribe to on itunes. I have to give credit to my friend Kate for telling me about it a couple of months ago, and I have no excuse for only writing about it now. Sorry. If you don't want to go the itunes route you can also check out spinner.com to find it.

Anywho, their latest podcast was from Britain's own Jamie Lidell, and I loved it. Totally worth the free download, and minutes of my time... and I figured if there was ever a time for you bloggers to jump on the podcast bandwagon, now would be it.

They usually have great artists perform, I'd say about 90% of the time, and a new one comes out about every week. Go ahead and subscribe, cause it's free, and a no brainer, and you love to do things that I tell you to do... Don't lie to me, I know you do.

Here's a video...

alright, here is something you can dig

2008-06-24T10:36:00.006-06:00

How many of you are all encompassingly getting down with this British soul revival thing going on? I know you are, or else Amy Winehouse wouldn't be in the news every single day of my life...

Eli "Paperboy" Reed is a new artist putting out some soul vibes, and of course I'm enjoying it, or I wouldn't be telling you about it. His myspace says he's from Massachetts, but looks he's taking advantage of the british thing as he's about to take off for a European tour. He just released an album in April, and with the help of modern technology and Al Gore, you can purchase it online!

He's got a style that reminds me of upbeat Otis Redding songs, although it would be unfair to compare the two any further. For those of you who enjoy listening to a more pure 50's and 60's soul sound you'll enjoy Reed, if you prefer the more modern stuff that people like Mark Ronson is doing to soul these days it might not necessarily be your thing. Give him a chance either way, it's easy to listen to, dance to, cry to, make eggs to, write blogs to, stare blankly at the wall because you didn't sleep very much to, create run on sentences to, and other things.

At the very least, here's a video:

Comments have been changed!

2008-06-21T12:21:00.005-06:00

I just changed the settings on our comments. Now you won't have to wait until we approve the comment after you write one, we've given in to the American need for instant gratification (I'll also not be bothered with an e-mail every time one of you leaves a message anymore, which makes me incredibly happy).

See.

Also, just to make this post more relevant, I've been listening to Spiritualized a lot lately. They just released a new album on May 27th. Check it out.

just bought my sigur ros tickets

2008-06-20T09:25:00.001-06:00

who else is going?

an explanation

2008-06-19T23:16:00.003-06:00

the cafe is taking july and august off. thankfully we have the freedom to do so and we're not in this for the money (cause there is none!). there are several good reasons, here goes:

1. all of you are spending your money on big festivals and tours. and who can blame you? salt lake is fortunate to get some great summer concerts.

2. we're an all ages venue and kids are out for the summer. we didn't do well last summer on shows (i think the showbread show was the only one we broke even on). we rely heavily on word of mouth and without kids in high school and college in session, there is no word of mouth.

3. it's hot. last summer we had two swamp coolers and fans and the heat of the cafe was almost unbearable. this year the swamp coolers have been torn out (they pooped out) so it will only be warmer.

4. there isn't a high quality of touring bands coming through. no offense to any touring band we've turned down, but it just is a lull in the concert season in salt lake (spring and fall are great though).

so there you go. add to that lawrence and i will be in africa and the middle east for about two weeks in the middle of july and august and we wouldn't be able to do any shows during that time or the week before and after. we don't do shows to make money so it's okay by our goals to take a breather from it.

one thing i'm really excited about is coming back in september with a full roster of shows with all the great local bands we love working with (we're hoping for more atherton shows in the fall!). with no one playing the cafe over the summer, we hope that everyone will be excited to get back onto our humble stage.

have a great summer, catch us tomorrow or next friday at our last two shows and always feel free to myspace us. we'll keep up the blog as much as we can.

and as long as i'm at it, sorry we don't serve drinks. i promise it's not just to make you angry. the espresso machine doesn't work (it's pricey to replace it) and all of those supplies are remnants from when the cafe was in full swing. and yes, i know, we could be making money by doing so!

who is the tallest man on earth?

2008-06-12T11:15:00.003-06:00

If you said that guy from Asia, technically you're correct. However, there is a new 'correct' answer to that question now.

The tallest man on earth is also a singer songwriter from Sweden who has taken over my ipod for most of this past month. Simply put, it's unique, but still very ear friendly. I love it. He sounds a lot like Dylan, which I know is a bold statement, but true. It's great summer "let's go camping" music.

You can listen to the whole album, titled shallow grave, on his website. Check it out.

faster than myspace

2008-06-12T09:43:00.004-06:00

yeah hate to say it, but this blog's been talking about kate nash since last fall. today she's one of the featured artists on myspace. so there you go: read our blog and every once in a while we'll give you a heads up from across the pond. i think tim gets full credit for this one.

i was gonna put in a kate nash picture, but myspace has had an unknown error. that's hilarious and well timed.

the whitest boy alive's favorite band

2008-06-11T09:40:00.004-06:00

i'm not sure how i came across rubies' myspace page, but it's been about 5 days & i still haven't closed the browser window or stopped listening to the tracks over & over. the fact that it is the whitest boy alive's self proclaimed favorite band (they are on tour together) says a lot about their music. it is mellow, danceable, disco folk & it's pure goodness. rubies is lead by Simone Rubi & Terri Loewenthal & you can read more about their story here. here's the video for "i feel electric" i don't love it but the music is good.

tax dollars

2008-06-06T23:18:00.003-06:00

it's rare when i feel like my taxes went to something that actually affects me. today though, i saw my tax dollars hard at work. these are the cd's i checked out from the sandy library:

architecture in helsinki - places like this
bright eyes - cassadaga
mos def - true magic
ladytron - witching hour
talib kweli - reflection eternal
sea wolf - get it to the river before it runs too low
lyric's born - every where at once
deerhoof - the runner's four
black mountain - in the future
t bone burnett - tooth of crime

my tax dollars hard at work. and someone sent me the new showbread cd. so that's a bonus.

BSS

2008-06-04T12:06:00.002-06:00

Get ready for a new Broken Social Scene album due this summer. They just can't be stopped.

This go around will be the second in the "Broken Social Scene Presents" concept, this time Brendan Canning is taking the wheel. It'll make their appearance at the summer twilight series that much better.

I will sleep now.

"you and me we're not so different..."

2008-06-03T20:30:00.004-06:00

paper rival's full length dialog is out now, but itunes is still the best place to get it. like too many good indie bands, their cd is hard to find (slowtrain: do you have it?). their myspace says that some best buy stores have it (i don't understand what wea distribution means if you still have to call around to best buys to find out if they have it).

at this point i should go ahead and dive full length into the label problem. photo finish excitedly signed pr several years ago, eager to put money into their music. since then, they've signed non-indie bands 3oh!3 (white boy gansta rap from colorado), envy on the coast and danger radio. this type of scattered signing doesn't help a band like paper rival. they've already missed out on some opportunities from legitimate indie media simply because it was assumed they were pop-passe.

also since their signing, paper rival has written and recorded a brilliantly overcast and gloomy indie record that still has momentum, hooks and strong vocals (no whiny emo vocals here). evocative songs like bluebird and the family ghost haunt the listener without losing their marketplace appeal.

i know it's only half way through the year, but right now i'm putting dialog in my top 5 for 2008 (sorry foxboro hot tubs). i know you're likely as broke as i am, but this is an album worth $9.99. think of it this way: that's only two gallons of gas!

it can't be bad, right?

2008-05-29T20:43:00.005-06:00

is it bad that i can't go a day without listening to laura veirs' saltbreakers album? cause i gotta be honest, it doesn't feel like a bad thing.

it's one of the few cds that upon playing, anyone around asks who it is and replies "i like this." which i think is proof of something beautiful, or at the very least, good.

what impresses me is her ability to be upbeat, witty, catchy, reflective, quiet and down-tempo all on the same album. which is one reason i think i listen to it every day; it's hard to get sick of an album that travels such distances.

so good i forgot it was raining outside

2008-05-29T11:00:00.003-06:00

cut off your hands is my new favorite band of the day. i think the band i would compare them most to is foals. yeah. i need this on my ipod. according to youtube this video was made in 3 days with 1500 inkjet printouts. all their videos are pretty cool. well the gloomy weather is hindering my ability to write well so watch & listen to this video. i hope you love it. :D

and if you love that here is something a little crazier from the band robot tigers which includes some of the guys from cut off your hands.

p.s. just a little hint if you didn't already know this...if you Ctrl+click (command+click for mac users) on a link it will open it in a new tab so you don't have to navigate away from this lovely blog.

summer awesome series

2008-05-28T11:33:00.004-06:00

thanks to city weekly's blog, here's the latest on your tax dollars hard at work...the summer twilight concert series at gallivan center. after years of quality, albeit hippie/folk music, this year's line up has a decidedly legit feel to it.

you be the judge though and tell us what you think.

july 10 - the roots (ever heard of 'em?)
july 17 - andrew bird, josh ritter
july 24 - de la soul
july 31 - keller williams, yonder mountain string band
august 7 - nada surf, tim fite
august 14 - tbd
august 21 - broken social scene
august 28 - neko case, crooked fingers

weezer, chris crocker, star wars kid & shoes.

2008-05-27T13:24:00.003-06:00

weezer recently released this video for "pork & beans" & i love it because it makes me feel better about spending my life on a computer. if you don't recognize any of the internet celebrities in this video then you probably have a much more productive life than i do. i know them all by name. as far as the song goes; it's alright. when i heard this song on the radio i had no idea it was weezer, surprising since they usually have that distinct weezer sound. if this song is a reflection of the rest of the new album it is not going to be anything special. however they won me over with this clever video...for now.

be gentle with me

2008-05-26T21:47:00.003-06:00

i am sure i've posted this on my personal myspace before because it is something that i just can not keep to myself. to be honest, i haven't listened much to The Boy Least Likely To but i certainly adore this video. be sure to check out the rest of their tunes, i know i will be.

thanks

2008-05-26T20:20:00.002-06:00

thanks to all of you who came out to the nightmare of you tour last night. i have a feeling edison glass and paper rival made a few new fans last night.

speaking of the bird & the bee...

2008-05-21T22:38:00.002-06:00

wanna see something neat? then watch this video a super creative girl made for the bird & the bee song "again & again." She made it using the mac OS X operating system.

whoa-oh-oh.

2008-05-21T13:15:00.007-06:00

i just realized that as much as i love love love love love the mgmt album, oracular spectacular, i've never written a blog on it. someone better slap my wrist. maybe you remember the of montreal show i wrote a blog about? yeah. and that show is where i first heard the indie hippie stoner electric goodness of a band that used to be called the management, ironically. starting off with time to pretend this album sucks you right in. i can listen to it over and over and over and over and over and over and over etc.... you really can listen to it if you're in any sort of mood as well. happy? yes. hyper? yes. chill? yes. sad? you bet your ass - it'll pick you right up. the perfect mixture of dance and unique (i need to find a thesarus) vocals come through mgmt and their growing popularity isn't suprising. so go check this magnificent piece of art out and i dare you not to dance (like, yeah right). sweeeeeeeet.

favorite songs: time to pretend, weekend wars, the youth, electric feel, kids, 4th dimensional transition, pieces of what, of moons birds & monsters, the handshake, and future reflections.......oh wait, that's the entire album. silly me.

foals. because you all deserve it.

2008-05-21T00:42:00.003-06:00

i just got the new foals album about an hour ago, i can tell already i'm going to be a little attached to it for a few days. previous to this album they had only released singles, so this moment has been highly anticipated by the few of us who seem to know about the awesomeness that is foals. doesn't seem right that no one knows of them which is why i'm doing my best to spread the word. or maybe everyone does know & they just don't like foals. that is ok, but it would be hard for me to understand. however someone just told me they love neil diamond & i have a hard time understanding that too so what do i know? sometimes parts of foals music reminds me of minus the bear intros but i guess the best way i can explain it is that it is less calm that mtb oh & with a totally different sounding vocals. it's the kind of music i can have playing all day & i won't get tired of it. it is so interesting & complex that you hear it differently each time you listen.
here's their video for balloons. i'm not sure how i feel about the video. something about it makes me uncomfortable, i think it's the weird hand motions the girls make. but i also keep watching it so i guess i love it deep down with all my heart.

a decade before

2008-05-20T22:46:00.003-06:00

my wife was cleaning out a closet tonight getting ready for a yard sale and she came upon one of our many cd stashes from yesteryear. after scanning through a pile of mostly rubbish, i picked up an old, old cd. i have a copy of it on my ipod, but it was put on a computer 6 years ago and the quality is really bad (you can always tell by the cymbals) so i grabbed royal's my dear like it had candy inside (i like candy).

long before being a band from scandanavia was the hot new thing, the swedish rock quintet royal was quietly not making it big in america.

to be honest, they were before their time. the delivered female fronted screamo before screamo was hot and america wasn't ready for it back in 1998. by my research they only released one album in america, my dear on tooth and nail records.

i wish it were still in print (an itunes search pulls up another royal that totally sucks it and is not this band that i'm writing about), but it's not. i guess next time you're at the cafe, snag my ipod and see what you think (don't do this). i can't even direct you to a website (this cd is so old, there is no website listed!).

coachella: 23 days later...

2008-05-20T11:23:00.008-06:00

ok so i failed horribly at blogging my experiences at coachella. maybe i was slightly overwhelmed because there was so much to say about it. or maybe it's because i talked about it nonstop for the week or 2 after & i, plus everyone else (i'm sure) was a little tired of it. coachella was one of those experiences where so much is happening all around you but you are so exhausted & tired that the whole thing ends up feeling like a dream where you're not sure what DID happen. the music was amazing, the bands played on time (with a few exceptions) it was HOT, there were a lot of very interesting people, & there was always something to do. for 3 straight 12+ hour days it was non-stop entertainment. by the 3rd day i was more often lingering toward the back of the crowds or sleeping in an air conditioned nokia tent rather than fully immersing myself in sets that i would probably pay good money to see play in salt lake. i had no idea i would crumble under all the goodness the way i did, but i can sum it up to just not being prepared for it. you have to expect to be running all over the polo field & missing your favorite bands to see your other favorite bands. i had to decide whether to watch prince's 2.5 hour show & risk getting in a girl fight/getting peed on AGAIN or to leave a little earlier to maintain my sanity(we left early; 1AM). staying the the entire roger waters set or leaving to go to the chromeo & justice dance party(missed the dance party but totally worth it). sleep in or see a band i like but not THAT much(slept in). i still wish i could go back again this weekend & i think i will miss it until i get to go again next year. for now, here is a very brief summary of what i saw...

friday...

dj mehdi opening act of the festival, we watched him since he was the only one playing on any of the 5 stages at that point. he is one happy dj.
american bang if you like kings of leon you will love these guys. bringing back the classic american rock & roll sound.
battles intriguing. we only stayed for a couple songs. sounded like ratatat to me.
black kids these guys & girls were so much fun. great music.
architecture in helsinki those are some silly australians. they were fun & sounded as fantastic live as they do in my earbuds.
vampire weekend honestly, after the first 5 bands i saw these guys were a little boring. but i do like their music. i think it was just nap time at this point.
the national they played right after vw on the same stage. it was good, but the vocals weren't my favorite.
the swell season i would have payed friday's ticket price just to see them. it was incredible. those are some talented people. you MUST check them out.
after swell season we noticed the field beginning to fill up with couples dressed in american eagle & abercrombie & an abundance of baseball hats. it took us a minute & then we remembered: jack johnson was headlining that night. so we left.

saturday...

the bird & the bee lovely. adorable. sweet. i love love loved them & their bubbles & squirt guns.
vhs or beta it is impossible for these guys to not rock. i was in the front row dancing & sweating in the 2pm sun. they sounded insanely good.
minus the bear played main stage right after vhs so i kept my front row spot. they played my favorite songs. i simply love them.
mgmt is this really happening? did i just see 3 amazing bands & now i am seeing another? yes. mgmt was electric. can't wait to see them again sometime. oh & i was standing right by the guitarist from vhs, i wanted to high 5 him so bad for some reason! haha
kate nash that girl was a hot mess! i don't think she had ever seen the sun. she was sweaty, frizzy, moody & her weird christmas stage theme was tacky. but there's no denying her lovely voice & catchy emotional lyrics are a hit with the hipsters. she was good - the group of girls screaming every lyric behind me was not.
death cab for cutie only watched from afar for a few songs while we re-energized for the rest of the day. they sounded like...death cab for cutie.
rilo kiley so good. so so good. better than i had imagined.
M.I.A. disappointing. there were about a million people crammed in the tent to see her. gunshots are not music. neither are blow horns. she only played 4 songs during her hour long set. yeah.
prince i got peed on. beat up due to some drunk girl's violent dancing. he started about an hour late. then he played 1999 hid behind some speakers for an entire song & then played little red corvette. that's pretty much all i remember. we sat down at the back of the crowd (about a mile from the stage) & heard him do the cover of radiohead's creep but didn't really care because we were barely still alive after having such an amazing day. then we left.

sunday...

slept in, went swimming, arrived to the festival at 4.
stars they were alright, a little disappointing. we left early & noticed that as we walked further away from the stage they sounded better & better. i don't know what was up with that.
autolux i don't even remember them, i was passing out on the grass at this point.
metric got me on my feet. even from the back they were great. very entertaining.
roger waters wow. it was amazing & i have never been much of a pink floyd fan. but it was a crazy good show. the inflatable pig, the plane, the prism, i loved it all. i'm glad we stayed for the whole 3 hour set (missing chromeo & justice).

so that's all the music, there was so much more besides music but that's not what this blog is about. so go check out those bands! & go to coachella next year!

M.I.A. on Sunday

2008-05-19T17:32:00.004-06:00

so i attended the M.I.A. show on sunday & aside from the unnecessarily moody people that seemed to be gathered around me & my friends, the show was amazing. much of an improvement to the sloppy 4-song set she did at coachella that consisted of superfluous gunshot sound effects that did nothing for me but make me very anxious. M.I.A., from what i know, is in a league of her own. it's not just about her music, she knows how to entertain. she went to an art school in london & it shows in her set design & clothing choices. there were big screens behind her on stage & i know that isn't anything new but the nonstop video art that plays with her music is something beautiful in itself. during one song it was a different clips of girls & women in traditional indian clothing dancing together and laughing, made to look like it is to the beat of her music. something about the clips was captivating & i'm not gonna lie, my eyes were on the visual art for the majority of the show. at one point in the show (which i tried to capture with my 2mp camera phone) she invited everyone up on stage, i think about 40-50 people made it up there. she let them dance with her & each other for 2 or 3 songs, not a dull moment there. she is bright, bold & anything but ordinary. definitely an artist worth checking out if you haven't yet.

margot and the so so's

2008-05-19T14:15:00.003-06:00

i really like margot and the nuclear so and so's. i'm excited for their new album. i'm not sure what i expected when i went to kilby court saturday night with my wife for the margot show, but i didn't really get into it. as i've thought about it, here are a few of the reasons i have come up with...

first off, is margot really the kind of music you get live? all eight of them smashed onto kilby's small stage, quietly bickering with each other between songs?

the other thing is that saturday's crowd was a really different crowd. not different in a fun way, but different in a "how did you hear about this band" way. maybe i just assume too much about margot. maybe i assume that they're very indie and off the beaten path (while still popular) and are only to be enjoyed by artsy, beatnik types. of course, i'm neither of those so what am i really even talking about?

it did sound great though and all the money kilby's new owners have put into the sound system seem worth it. the touring support for margot was really good too. if anyone knows who they were, let me know.

i'll fill chad & the rest of you all in :)

2008-05-15T16:47:00.003-06:00

Okay, so for everyone who sort of missed the hype about Nightmare of You, i'll do my best to "fill you in." I've been listening to Nightmare of You since their first self-titled album came out in 2005 and they haven't gotten old. Nightmare of You definitely has a unique sound that you can hear by just listening to the voice of the lead singer, Brandon Reilly. But, in their case, unique is good and it works. They have a mix of dance and more acoustic type songs on both albums with lyrics that are not only profound but you can relate to them..or at least find entertaining. If you go to their myspace to check them out you can hear some of their stuff off their new ep, Bang. Although Bang is an extremely good album, in my opinion, I think you should check out some of their older stuff on these fakers: here or here. I honestly don't believe you will be disappointed. If you like them, I've heard they are great live so you should come check them out when they play at the cafe, May 25.
P&L

promoting this show is a nightmare

2008-05-15T09:25:00.003-06:00

nightmare of you will be at the cafe on sunday, may 25th. to be honest, i'm 30 and know nothing about them. maybe some of you can fill me in (sami, keni, et al). of course i've listened to their myspace music, i just don't want to pretend to know all about them when i don't.

what i do know is that nightmare of you is bringing edison glass and paper rival with them. i've listened to edison glass for a long time and paper rival played the cafe two months ago. both bands represent the best that the indie marketplace has to offer: rich, layered, thoughtful music and lyrics and entertaining live shows. of course you'll only find this out if you buy a ticket to the show and come hang out! it's on the sunday before memorial day so you hopefully won't have school and work and will want to come hang out. tickets are cheaper ahead of time, come by the cafe either of the next two friday's or buy them online here.

ani di stopmakingmusicandgetaproducer franco

2008-05-13T22:47:00.003-06:00

la la la beep honk bring wee whoa hee haw willy willy woo isn't music...

i honestly don't get it and i've honestly not gotten it for more than a decade. and asking me to listen to more of it won't help your chances.

great vengeance and furious fire

2008-05-13T22:21:00.004-06:00

it's always when you're broke as broke that you find so many cd's that you want to buy...

the heavy are just such a band and their new cd great vengeance and furious fire is just such a cd. and of course, i'm broke.

hailing from just outside bath, england (straight west from london before you get to cardiff - i googled a map), the heavy play the kind of funk rock that you'd swear you heard in a steven soderbergh movie. it's classy and lively enough to play in any nightclub and you can almost hear american rappers lining up with bags of money for samples. while their style is fresh and new, they clearly honor the old funk masters. simply put: they could share the stage with the isley brothers one day and mark ronson the next and both would make perfect sense.

they've just done their intro to the u.s. tour this week (a few los angeles dates, san fran, chicago and three more in new york). they have about 6,500 myspace friends now, i can't imagine this band staying unkown for too much longer.

death cab for me?

2008-05-13T22:20:00.002-06:00

does anyone have the new death cab yet? is it good? i don't like the way their first single is mixed. it seems like ben gibbard's voice is too front in the mix. it's as if someone were sitting in the car with you singing along. it's not bad, but it just doesn't sound right to me.

sub pop can do no wrong

2008-05-12T10:51:00.005-06:00

sub pop really is the best indie label out there right now. you could argue that with their roster they're no longer an indie label, but let's just agree that they have a knack for a&r and for finding incredible artists.

the newest sub pop band i've taken to is fleet foxes (i know tim's already on board with ff). go spend $.99 in itunes and buy mykonos off their sun giant ep and you'll know what i mean. they describe their music as: "baroque harmonic pop jams." there is certainly that minstrel in the gallery telling old tales with a modern song writing style to it. their style deftly blends old and new but definitely keeps it's feet in the old. i'd compare them to the twin cinema's record by the new pornographers. itunes says they're for fans of beirut and grizzly bear, which is probably true since you can throw a rock and find music fans that like beirut and grizzly bear.

other than that, i've been in mexico for a week and pretty much only listened to the con by teegan and sara and electric version by the new pornographers. i did catch colour revolt in las vegas last week and they were amazing. i didn't take any photos cause i'm a lazy jerk and also cause house of blues barely lets you take your own shoes into their venue let alone a camera.

voices that make me melt.

2008-05-10T14:39:00.005-06:00

the new augustana album (can't love, can't hurt) is absolutely incredible. i picked it up at graywhale yesterday after seeing an acoustic set from the band. it's just as good on the album as it was acoustic. frontman, dan layus has an amazing voice. the music is simple and calming. i think that i might even like this second album more than the first - all the stars and boulevards. they are different in really good ways. to me the first album was more plain rock and this one has some country sounds thrown in and i've been really into that lately. i'm terrible at explaining music because it all makes great sense in my head but not so much out of it. go pick up this album and take a good listen. because it's worth it. and if you're broke just go listen to their myspace and realize you need to get some ca$h.

favorite songs on can't love, can't hurt: hey now, i still ain't over you, fire, and where love went wrong.

she's just so charming...

2008-05-07T22:50:00.005-06:00

the wondeful kate nash. she's been mentioned on the ship a couple times before and i'm with tim on this - is it okay to say that i'm in love? not too long ago i started listening to the made of bricks album repeatedly. if you have already listened to it maybe you are wondering why i find her charming; she's a bit of a bad ass with a dirty mouth. however, that makes her so real, funky, and honest. she's one of the most unique artists that i've ever listened to. the lyrics to her spunky, dancy songs are what really draws me in. it's not often you hear a girl singing about dickheads and birds shitting on your head. it's fantastic. plus she's got an accent. done deal. take a listen. i promise, you won't be dissappointed.

saturday

2008-04-29T14:28:00.004-06:00

we mention and talk about the new frontiers quite a bit on this blog (unapologetically), but just wanted to say a few quick things today about them.

their album mending is out in stores today. it's been available through itunes and at shows for a few months and was out in independent stores for a month (graywhale was the only one in salt lake) and is finally out today in full distribution (what the militia group was attempting to do here is still a mystery, one that has seriously hurt their reputation and could possibly cost them a few bands from their roster).

what do you say about an album that many people already have or have heard that you don't already know? it's easily one of my top five albums of 2008 (colour revolt's being the other so far) and is getting noticed (paste, daytrotter, absolutepunk.net have all taken an interest) for it's high quality. add to that the number of free downloads the band has made available online and there really shouldn't be any questions about the new frontiers.

the second piece of news is that they'll be playing the cafe on saturday night with a seriously good bill. they're on tour with alive in wild paint (equal vision records), formerly goodbye tomorrow and are playing with emme packer, atherton and dan curtis. tickets are available now at www.24tix.com for $7 and at the door as well. doors as always are at 7 pm.

i think

2008-04-28T13:28:00.002-06:00

i think i'm gonna catch colour revolt in vegas this friday at house of blues.

paul's back!

2008-04-23T17:11:00.002-06:00

after six months traveling through australia, new zealand, china, singapore, cambodia and more, paul is back! maybe if you're lucky he'll be working at a show during the next month and if you're really lucky, he'll give you a high five.

clever title (minus the bear)

2008-04-23T00:08:00.003-06:00

lawrence and i have been to quite a few shows since he moved out to our great city. tonight's minus the bear show sets the record for the number of times we looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, grinned like middle schoolers and said "wtf" to ourselves (31 if you're curious). to be fair, i know nothing of pedals, buttons, loops and the like, but lawrence really does and he still couldn't figure out all that was going on.

a few highlights:

seeing a lot of friends including matt nanes from swans of never and his quote (in reference to portugal the man's set): "i've never smoked marijuana, but if i did, i would smoke it to that!"

seeing that minus the bear still takes their job very seriously and despite strained vocals, completely delivering an hour long set worthy of their pedigree.

the lights. i'm old enough that i usually don't care anymore, but they had green lasers. put green lasers on your list if you want to make a show really pop.

their guitarist. i'm not sure what he was doing, but at one point he was making those patented, syncopated minus the bear sounds (you know the ones) using only his pedals.

a few lowlights:

skibums dancing like hippies.

seeing the over-zealous bouncers throw a kid out on his head (quite literally).

the guy who used my mouth as his ash tray for the better part of two hours.

do the D A N C E

2008-04-22T15:06:00.004-06:00

here is one of my all-time favorite music videos.

justice is a french band who have been nominated for a grammy & they are the most successful group on ed banger records. if you like disco & you love to D.A.N.C.E. then i think you will love justice. they are the last act of coachella this year, playing right after chromeo so it's basically gonna be the dance party of my lifetime. so. excited.
p.s. check out chromeo's song mama's boy. it will make you laugh.

how to make famous.

2008-04-22T14:04:00.006-06:00

for a delicious mix:

-toss in 1/8 panic at the disco

-stir around 1/8 cinematic sunrise

-add 3/4 saucy jazz and unrivaled style

end result: the lives of famous men.

the lives of famous men are starting to collect some attention and with their jazzy pop sound they’re hard to ignore. for a wonderful treat come see these fellas at the café this friday, april 25 - for just $7! and as always doors are at 7:00.

Ghettotech!

2008-04-21T22:18:00.004-06:00

this is part 1 of who knows how many of my coachella anticipation & soon to be review of the actual event.
first up: architecture in helsinki. on their myspace they call themselves Melodramatic Popular Song / Ghettotech / Jungle. i call them crazy, fun, original. think what you want about architecture in helsinki, but if this video doesn't get you up & dancing then i don't know what will.

i can clearly remember the first time i heard them, because i had an absolute fit of joy. that is just what aih does to me & i hope to share this joy with you. here's that first song i ever heard. i still get all silly & happy when i hear it. this is not the song's official video, but this animation is quite similar to what i experience when i close my eyes & listen.
doodoodoo doodoodoo doo *clap*clap* doodledoodledoo (wandering eyes)

free music

2008-04-19T15:43:00.003-06:00

click here to download four free downloads from the new frontiers and alive in wild paint. while you're at it, click here and BUY A TICKET TO THE SHOW! you know their may 3rd date at the cafe with atherton and emme packer should be one of the best shows in the month of may.

sorry to shout at you, i just know how dead broke the cafe is. and we'd really, really like to buy some new sound equipment. and if you're keeping track, this is now six free new frontiers downloads we've sent your way. thanks always to nathan (pictured) for always letting us know about free music from them.

ain't nothing but a g thing baby

2008-04-18T18:26:00.004-06:00

let's all take a moment to revisit the early 90's and some really great rap.

...

OK, real quick. Adem is putting out an album of covers called Takes coming out on May 12th. I can tell you now that it's going to be pretty incredible. This is Adems third solo album, and if you don't have the other two then you should definitely stop reading now and go buy them.

click here to watch a video of him playing one of the songs from his new album called Hotel lounge.

this is good

2008-04-17T12:15:00.004-06:00

thanks to nathan from the new frontiers for the heads up on brooke waggoner. definitely one of the lamest videos i've ever seen, but let the audio run and check your email or something because the music's worth it.

you really got a hold of me

2008-04-17T09:54:00.007-06:00

i'm not sure what indie-country-pop is, but i'm betting we'll see more of it coming out of the ultra chic, nighttime scene of la in the coming months. i can't say whether it will catch on nationwide, but anytime a hollywood type starts a band and puts out an album it will get noticed (see jason schwatrzman's coconut records).

she & him is the latest project from indie ingenue zooey deschanel and the enigmatic m. ward. already the star of indie films like all the real girls, the assassination of jesse james by the coward robert ford and others (or elf and bridge to terebithia if you don't watch indie flicks), deschanel has made the leap to music. it's not a huge stretch because she's always kind of had that june carter cash thing going for her. and she & him is definitely country music. but it's more fun than that really. it has a throwback feel to it where if you heard it on an old truckers am radio, you would assume it was from 30 years ago (back when country music was actually good). each song features simple melodies and uncluttered arrangements which is what gives it that older sound. and it compliments her style well because the songwriting is solid enough that it doesn't need excessive production to prop it up. you could very easily picture her touring just by herself with a guitar, telling stories between songs (i'd buy that ticket). so far though, she's just done south by and sold out shows in new york and la.

zooey deschanel's debut cd is called volume one and as always, i recommend buying it at slowtrain on broadway.