Photo by David Greenwald
Vampire Weekend are playing an intimate spot tonight and a bigger one tomorrow afternoon (both free!) in advance of their new album, Contra. Space is limited, so RSVP here on the double. I’ll be at Dirty Projectors tonight, but here’s to hoping Ezra and Co. dress up as actual vampires.
Photo by David Greenwald
If it’s anywhere near the quality of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, it’ll be nice to have the best album of 2010 on the early side. No word yet if frontman Britt Daniel’s sessions with Jon Brion (who previously did the band’s “The Underdog”) made the cut — previous single “Got Nuffin,” which’ll make the 12-track set, was self-produced. More on the 2010 album release calendar. Update: The album is now due a week early, on January 19.
This post — drawn mostly from my Twitter, uh, live-tweeting of my first and hopefully only listen to this album — assumes that you, dear reader, know and love the first two Weezer albums and have watched the band’s baffling career path since with a mixture of hope and nausea. With that in mind, a track by track review of the latest in Rivers Cuomo’s ventures into madness lies after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
In an interview with Consequence of Sound today, Pavement guitarist Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg (whose new solo album is a jam, by the way) confirms that the reformed band is negotiating for a U.S. festival appearance at “a place in the desert.” In other words: COACHELLA! Might wanna add a trip to Indio, California on April 16-18, 2010, to your Google Calendar, pals.
[svgallery name="rosemelberg"]
All photos by David Greenwald
You always hope your heroes are as you’d imagined them. Mysterious. Charisma to burn. Or, you know, nice. Rose Melberg, one of indie pop’s most talented icons, is the closest thing we’ve got to twee royalty (beyond being, of course, queen of my heart), but she rules with open arms. Watching her play a pair of far too brief sets at Vacation Vinyl and Echo Curio on Tuesday night was as quietly stunning as you’d expect from the shy-voiced singer and her lovelorn odes, but it was Rose herself that impressed me most. Whether joking with the packed, ironic sweatshirt-clad Echo Curio audience or offering words of appreciation when a drunken new fan approached her at her earlier record store set (which, guys, you seriously missed out on), Rose was every bit as earnest and charming as her music. But Ms. Melberg, do me one favor — come back before 2019 (and play some Softies jams)? That would be the nicest of all.
Photo by David Greenwald
Pacific Coast Highway, 2005.
Jackson C. Frank – “Don’t Look Back”: mp3
More Photography: Camera Obscurist | Concert Photos
Intrepid Rawkblog readers will remember the one and only Rose Melberg as my favorite singer still in business. The former frontwoman of Tiger Trap and The Softies (swoon!) comes to Los Angeles tonight for the first time in forever and a day in support of her latest solo release, the lovely Homemade Ship. Given Rose’s infrequent touring schedule, this may be your one and only chance to see her (and, er, me, sobbing away). She’s playing Vacation Vinyl tonight at 6 PM and then heading over for another gig at the Echo Curio. Update: LA Record has a great interview today with Rose, who said she hasn’t played in L.A. in 10 years!
Rose Melberg – “Old Days”: mp3
(Photo by Sarah Cass)
Previously: Bootleg: The Softies at the Milky Way, 10.20.00
As expected, Midlake’s The Courage of Others will get an official release in February 2010, on the 2nd via Bella Union, to be exact. And in equally awesome news, SDDialedIn reports that the band expects to play a show in San Diego in March or April — meaning a Los Angeles show is likely. Crossing my fingers for the Troubadour. More release dates on the 2010 Album Release Calendar.
