I’m in the process of making a pro and con list about whether or not I should go to this show.
Pro: ‚”We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank” turned out to be a pretty rad record, despite all the ‚”they’re rock stars now/ Johnny Marr joined the band” hype.
Con: Their Webster Hall show last fall started strong and then dissolved in to an endless, guitar-y wankfest. Johnny Marr is a good guitar player. We get it.
Pro: Man Man are awesome.
Con: Love as Laughter is deeply boring and sounds like Dire Straits. When I saw them last fall, I spent most of the show wondering whether the girl member was wearing tights or hot pants.
Pro: Maybe Isaac Brock has gotten back on the bottle and the show will be fun and chaotic, like the old ones.
Con: United Palace Theater is freaking far.
Summary: I might go. Then again, I might not. But ‚”We Were Dead…” is a solid album.
Details: 4/30, 8:00 PM, Modest Mouse, Love as Laughter, Man Man, United Palace Theatre All Ages $37.50

Performing “What Sin” from Jacksonville City Nights. Is it just us or has Adams, for better or worse, channeled the ghost of Jerry Garcia?

These two videos epitomize all that is wrong with Seventies commercial prog rock. Two case studies in why the flute and the fiddle should NEVER be used in rock music.
Kansas: Point of Know Return

Jethro Tull: Ian Anderson ‘s Flute Solo (07/31/1976)

This is hilarious:

Sure, Bishop Allen is a great, upbeat, fun indie pop band, but the real draw is that they’re fronted by the cute boy from Mutual Understanding. He can have a crisis about the direction of his life on my living room couch anytime.
Sat 4/28 6:30 PM Bishop Allen Knitting Factory (Main Space)

I imagine Deerhunter’s show at the Mercury Lounge will be one big music blogger clusterfuck, but their show at Sound Fix should be pretty chill. Deerhunter do the spacey, droney Grizzly Bear thing, which sounds pretty damn good while curled up with a mug of tea on a coffeeshop couch. Their latest CD, ‚”Cryptograms,” is pretty nice bedtime listening, too.
Details:
Thu 4/26 7:00 PM Deerhunter Soundfix Records
Fri 4/27 8:00 PM Awesome Color, Deerhunter, Telepathe, Silent Barn (aka Raven’s Den)

…you know, now that the fancy folk are moving in. Bloomberg could save a few bucks by filling the pool with oil instead of water. (If you haven’t watched Toxic Brooklyn, you can see it all here). Meanwhile, summer concerts are still being scheduled for McCarren Park Pool. You can see the full schedule here, though only a few dates have been announced thus far.
From NYTimes [Thanks Peter]

Changes for the city’s 29,000-acre park system are even more ambitious than initially detailed by the mayor in his 25-year plan for a greener New York, and include reopening the High Bridge and the McCarren Park swimming pool, officials said yesterday….
The McCarren Park pool, built in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in 1936 and closed in 1984, is one of 11 giant swimming pools built in the city as part of the Works Progress Administration. The pool, which could accommodate 6,800 bathers, will be reduced in size by about one third and reopened as an Olympic size pool. The work is budgeted at $50 million, and officials expect it to begin this summer and take a couple of years.
Details of the city’s plan to reopen the bridge and the pool were not discussed when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg outlined his PlaNYC initiative on Sunday, but were confirmed yesterday by the Department of Parks and Recreation.

The White Stripes new single”Icky Thump” is now available on iTunes. Sounds like Jack White has been rocking his old Physical Graffiti LP again:
The White Stripes - Icky Thump (XFM radio rip) (MP3)
The album is due out June 19th. From Wikipedia:

The White Stripes official web site has announced that Icky Thump will be the sixth studio album by The White Stripes. Its completion was announced on February 28, 2007. The band’s website announced that the album was recorded at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio and took almost three weeks to record — the longest of any White Stripes album to date.
A statement on the band’s official website (spuriously attributed to “Kitayna Ireyna Tatanya Kerenska Alisof” of the “Moscow Bugle”, a reference to the 1966 Batman film) claims that:
‚”The White Stripes have completed the recording and mixing of their sixth album. It is entitled Icky Thump, and is their first album to include a title track, which curiously (and not ironically) has the same words in it’s [sic] name. Though some residents of northern England might almost recognize the title, the Stripes stress they are spelling it wrong intentionally just for “kicks” and “metaphors”, and to avoid a possible lawsuit from the estate of Billy Eckstine.”
A video of The Stripes in the studio working on the album can also be found at their site, although the aforementioned statement has this to say about the song: “The actual music has been replaced with mid eighties sampling keyboard technology to prevent what industry analysts are now calling ‘song poaching’.”
Jack White stated that the album will appeal to fans of the band’s self-titled debut, perhaps suggesting a stripped-down hard rock sound. A trumpet/guitar duel is said to take place in one song.
The first track (“Icky Thump”) has been announced as the first single to be taken from the upcoming album. Q101 in Chicago has become the first station to play the track.

[hat tip BrooklynVegan]

MySpace owner Rupert Murdoch & Mark Burnett
From HuffingtonPost

The online social networking site MySpace and reality TV producer Mark Burnett are teaming to launch the search for an independent presidential candidate.
The political reality show “Independent” comes with a $1 million cash prize and a catch: the winner can’t keep the money.
The prize can be used to finance a run for the White House or can be given to a political action committee or political cause.
Contestants in the show, set to launch in early 2008, will meet the public and interact with supporters, protesters and others. An interactive “town hall” will give MySpace users and TV viewers a chance to rate their performance.
The show does not yet have a commitment from a TV network.
Potential candidates will audition for the show by submitting a video. Once the contestants are chosen, they will set up MySpace profiles to serve as their campaign headquarters.
The hope is that the show, with its Internet component, will engage younger voters in the political process.
“Through this new network television series and the partnership of MySpace, we’re going to discover in a big way what America really thinks, and bring to light the issues that are closest to those who now finally have a chance to be heard,” Burnett said.
MySpace is a unit of Fox Interactive Media, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

We’re glad to see that one of our favorite records of the year, From Here We Go Sublime, is metacritic’s highest ratest record of 2007 thus far. This wonderful release by Sweden’s Axel Willner (Kompakt) is pure heaven for minimal techno aficionados. If you haven’t heard it yet, you can check out a track here:
MP3: The Field: Over the Ice

Speaking of amazing music, Of Montreal’s EP “Icons, Abstract Thee” is even better than Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (which, frankly, we’ve been lukewarm on). Sadly, it’s a bit difficult to find: From Polyvinyl

As a bonus to online store customers we are releasing this exclusive CDEP Icons, Abstract Thee for mailorder only! (The EP will also be available from of Montreal on tour). The EP consists of five songs which are not on the Hissing Fauna CD.

If you miss the carefree pop of The Sunlandic Twins, do yourself a favor and get your hands on a copy.