The Coachella lineup looks great (they had me at Moz), but equally interesting for LA locals will be the inevitable secret shows as bands head down to Indio. As per festival rules, acts can’t play in LA for a month surrounding their Coachella gig, but they usually do anyway — last year I caught Architecture [...]
More >
Pre-Coachella Secret Shows Rumor-Mongering
Fleet Foxes Robin Pecknold Going Through Freshman Year Existential Crisis
-
Artist:
Photo by David Greenwald The 21-year-old Fleet Foxes frontman — clearly deep into his Lindsay Lohan phase — is currently having a real-time Twitter conversation with himself about the enormity of the universe and humanity's ultimate inability to comprehend its vastness. He's also being extremely self-conscious about it and calling himself "pretentious," because God forbid anybody [...]
More >
Video: Elliott Smith’s “Strange Parallel”
-
Artist:
I can’t think of a better way to spend a half-hour this Saturday morning than digging in and watching Strange Parallel, a strange, touching semi-documentary on Elliott Smith that’s made all the more poignant by his untimely passing. Kudos to Pitchfork.tv for hosting it this week.Previously: Elliott Smith - The Complete Live Covers
More >
Tonight in LA: Tindersticks
-
Artist:
The last time Tindersticks brought their nocturnal noir-pop to Los Angeles, I was a sophomore in college — and not yet a fan. The L.A. Times’ Todd Martens has an excellent feature on the band today for those not caught up on the act’s recent trials and tribulations, which have included the exit of three [...]
More >
First Look: Neko Case - “Middle Cyclone”
-
Artist:
If the album art wasn’t enough of a hint, Middle Cyclone is fun. For Neko Case, iron-clad country-noir songstress, this is a bit of an adjustment — and a big success. While one won’t mistake “People Got A Lotta Nerve” for “Miss Teen Wordpower,” some of Neko’s moonlighting time with the New Pornographers seems to [...]
More >
New Wilco Due In June
-
Artist:
America’s best band (yes) will release their latest opus in June, according to Rolling Stone. The magazine also praises the seven tracks they recently heard, though given Wilco’s increasingly Dad-rockin’ sounds and Rolling Stone’s usual biases, I can’t help thinking this means another one-way ticket to Boomerville. (Fine by me, the ol’ yacht needs a [...]
More >
New Music: The Beatles - “Revolution Take 20″
-
Artist:
No strangers to hyperbole, the NME says this is being the Holy Grail of lost Beatles recordings — but for once, they might be right. The just-leaked "Revolution Take 20″ seems to be a glorious bridge between the White Album's twin versions of "Revolution," the fuzzy, straightforward "Revolution No. 1″ and the experimental sound collage [...]
More >
Video: Hold Steady’s ‘A Positive Rage’ Documentary Trailer
-
Artist:
Best. Band. Ever. I love rock docs and will be first in line for this one. It’s out April 7.
More >
New Music: The Decemberists - “Hazards Of Love”
-
Artist:
Colin Meloy in 2005 / photo by David Greenwald The titular track of the Decemberists' forthcoming Hazards of Love — purportedly a concept album Gothic in more of a musty castles and wailing deaths kind of way than a Hot Topic one — sounds more like the Decemberists than the band has, well, since they signed [...]
More >
Tonight: Dave Rawkblog On UCLARadio.com
I'll be performing songs by and talking about the Softies and the Microphones on UCLARadio.com tonight at 8 p.m. PST. I will probably embarrass myself.
More >
New Music: The Main Drag - ‘Teeth Face Outerspace’
-
Artist:
-
Track:Teeth Face Outerspace
It seems Boston indie-rock heroes the Main Drag have gotten a bit weirder since releasing 2007's stellar Yours As Fast As Mine. "Teeth Face Outerspace" retains the punk-posse singalong exuberance of their cover of LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends," but blasts the music out to the stars, widening into Flaming Lips-esque cosmos-scraping. Up, up and [...]
More >
Ryan Adams and Mandy Moore Might Be Engaged
-
Artist:
In what might be a Valentine's miracle, Life & Style Weekly — that bastion of accuracy, I know — is reporting that Ryan Adams and on/off flame Mandy Moore are engaged. I hope this is true and results in an album of Ryan singing Cole Porter standards. Dude's new Valentine's Day EP is out now; [...]
More >
New Music: Camera Obscura - ‘My Maudlin Career’
-
Artist:
-
Track:
While the title of Camera Obscura's latest single may poke fun at the band's more, ahem, sentimental leanings, "My Maudlin Career" carries plenty of real emotion. And as the band's lead-off for its titular 4AD debut, plenty of expectations, too — which the track has no trouble meeting. By dousing the Motown homage of "Let's [...]
More >
Start Buying Your Tickets At The Door
Ticketmaster and LiveNation are merging , which basically means that as the record industry continues to crater, dudes in suits will be milking you and your little sister for every last surcharge imaginable. Considering ticket prices are Ticketmaster are already basically a 2-for-3 deal every time out, I can't imagine this encouraging anyone to go to more concerts, much less be able to afford a...
More >
A Word On The Grammys
-
Artist:
-
Album:
Radiohead, the best band in the world, are in the running for Album of the Year for a third time. They will likely lose to Coldplay, a slightly more financially successful but infinitely more populist act, who owe their entire careers to Radiohead and a couple of really good singles from like 2002. I don't care who's handing out the awards, this is a bummer. Good thing Robert "Too Old For Zep...
More >
Coachella 2009 Revealed: Moz, Macca and MBV
-
Artist:
Okkervil River / photo by David Greenwald Morrissey's not headlining (though that honor is going to his old pals, the Cure) but he's the guy I'm most excited to see at Coachella 2009, which, absurdly, will also feature Paul McCartney, My Bloody Valentine (finally) and '80s sound-a-likes the Killers, who should seriously play Smiths and Cure covers all night. Other highlights include the Ho...
More >
Rawkblog's Return
Gentleman, ladies: I've moved to a new apartment and we don't have Internet yet. This is obviously putting a crimp in me uploading 50 MP3s for my songs of the year list. Hopefully we'll be up and running sometime next week and it'll be back to business as usual -- thanks for being patient, and a belated happy New Year to everybody.
More >
Ben Gibbard Possesses Zooey Deschanel's Heart -- Really
-
Artist:
Secret lovers Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel are reportedly engaged after dating for almost a year. (ZOMG!) This is basically the indie rock version of Superbad (Ben as Jonah, obv.) and will presumably encourage a generation of bespectacled teenagers to write vaguely misogynistic prog anthems. That said, serious props to dude for not proposing the minute he met her and totally blowing it...
More >
New Akron/Family Album Due Spring 2009
Akron/Family -- now one member lighter following the departure of Ryan Vanderhoof -- will drop the follow-up to the hippy-dippy Love is Simple in the spring, Miles Eaton told Gothamist today. "We are finishing mastering it as we speak," he said. "I just got off the phone with Seth, our mastering engineer, and we're just kind of going through it and working out the details on the frequencies....
More >
The Week In Rawk, 12.21.08
-
Artist:
The results of the Rawky Awards are in! I finally listened to the rest of this year's buzz bands. They suck. What a relief for my lists. The National's next record won't be out till 2010, the RIAA have apparently stopped suing , Peter Gabriel covered Vampire Weekend and Zooey Deschanel sang at Spaceland. Next week: Year-end insanity. Pray for me. *** The Week in Rawk: Last week's greate...
More >
