April 2010 Concert Calendar - San Diego

Sorry there was no update for March, but law school was busy bringing the pain so I forgot.  Here's what's good in April a little early.

4/5 - RJD2 and Busdriver @ The Casbah
4/8 - Citizen Cope @ The Wave House
4/12 - As Tall As Lions @ The Loft
4/14- Retribution Gospel Choir @The Casbah
4/15 - A Place To Bury Strangers & The Big Pink @ The Casbah
4/16, 4/17, 4/18 - Coachella
4/19 - Jeff Beck @ 4th and B
4/21 - Japandroids @ The Casbah
4/24 - Daedelus & Free The Robots @ The Loft
4/25- High on Fire @ The Casbah
4/27- Rogue Wave @ The Belly Up
4/28 - The Antlers @ The Casbah
4/28 - The Mary Onettes @ Soda Bar
4/29 - The Avett Brothers @ House of Blues
4/30 - Dark Star Orchestra @ The Belly Up

Foals - Spanish Sahara

Foals are a group out of England who sound like what Bloc Party sounded like back in 2005 (aka "the good years"). Their first album 'Antidotes' was one of my favorites of 2008, sounding like the love child of the aforementioned era of Bloc Party and Minus the Bear. Kinda math-rocky but not in a pretentious way, which us lesser beings always appreciate. Their second album 'Total Life Forever is out on May 10, 2010 and should be top notch.

Below is their video for the slow building epic "Spanish Sahara".

MpFree Tuesday! 3 New Tracks From The Black Keys, Holy Fuck, and The Glitch Mob

Continuing in my 1 month old tradition of scouring the internets to find some groovy free mp3's to download, today here are 3 tracks from artists with upcoming releases

First we have the always dependable Black Keys.  The blues duo consisting of Dan Auerbach on guitar and Pat Carney on drums have become a rock n' roll staple over the past 8 years with high energy live shows, hip-hop collaborations (Blakroc), and side projects in the form of Patrick Carney's band of all drummers, aptly named Drummer, and Dan Auerbach's most excellent solo blues swamp-romp 'Keep it Hid'.  The boys are back together to bring us some new tunes with their new album 'Brothers' out May 18.  Although this album is mainly self-produced, the lead single 'Tighten Up' is produced by everyone's favorite everyman producer, Brian Burton AKA Dangermouse who produced the band's last album 'Attack & Release'.  Download 'Tighten Up' HERE.

Second we have instrumental the  Canadians in Holy Fuck.  Don't be deterred by the ridiculous name, because on their newest release, 'Latin' out on May 11, these 2008 Polaris Prize Shortlist finalists are further refining their sound bringing us more members (now at 4 plus touring rhythm section), and more psychotic, psych-out voice-less jams.  Download the lead single 'Latin America' HERE.

Third is the electronic glitch/break collective The Glitch Mob.  Although The Glitch Mob has not yet released a proper album, they've gained quite a cult following in the past 3 or so years touring relentlessly, releasing a free, and excellent mixtape 'The Crush Mode', and remixing artists like TV on the Radio, Jamie Lidell, and STS9.  Their first full length 'Drink the Sea' is out May 25 and you can download the first single, 'Drive It Like You Stole It' over at XLR8R over HERE.

Happy listening my friends.

MGMT's new album 'Congratulations' available streaming now

Amble on over to http://www.whoismgmt.com/ to check out their new sound.  Definitely won't be dancing to this one.  Sounds like 'Low'-era David Bowie recording with a commune of hippies singing as choir... while on mushrooms.  Why not give it a try?  And yes that is the cover art.

Maserati - 'Inventions for the New Season'

It's no secret that Maserati is one of my favorite bands, so please forgive my endless endearment.   I can't help it.  For those of you that don't know, Maserati is a (currently) 5-piece instrumental post-rock band from Athens, Georgia.  The reason I say currently 5-piece is that their former drummer, an amazing musician by the name of Gerhardt "Jerry" Fuchs, fell down an elevator shaft to his death this past fall.  If it truly is better to burn out than to fade away, the great Mr. Fuchs made one hell of a performance on Maserati's last proper album in 2007, 'Inventions for the New Season' their 3rd proper album.  Although only having 3 legitimate LPs the band has a pretty prolific discography when considering the vast amount of singles, splits, and most recently an excellent rarities collection 'Passages' released last year just before Fuchs' death.

'Inventions for the New Season is literally dripping with more beautiful delay pedal-work than The Edge can hide under his skull cap.  Guitarists Matt Cherry and Josh McCauley create an electronic synth-like rythym, seamlessly intertwining their melodic riffs over Fuchs expert drumming.  The music has frequently been called "danceable", which I cannot dispute because I often find myself at least marginally bobbing when listening to fast paced tracks like 'Synchronicity IV' or 'Show Me The Season'.  The opener, 'Inventions' bubbles and builds over the course of it's 9 minute plus track length to cresting tsunami-heights, before crashing down, receding, and crashing down again. And again. And Again.  It reminds me of STS9 at their most frenetically paced, yet darker and with less electronic flourishes.  Also, if you know who the Coma Lilies are, this band is the love child that they never knew they had.

I love this album to no end, and while it does seem to lose a little of the heavy steam by the time the final notes echo to black, there is really nothing to complain about because the album is perfect in all other respects.  This band and album is, well, to put it in the words of the band themselves, "Maserati is as sleek and sexy as the legendary Italian sports it takes its name from".  Enough said.

Stream Gorillaz - 'Plastic Beach' RIGHT NOW! ! !

In anticipation of their forthcoming 3rd album, 'Plastic Beach', the entire album is currently being streaming over on NPR.  The album features the likes of Snoop Dog, Little Dragon, Mos Def, Lou Reed, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and De La Soul and after my first listen I am utterly blown away by the quality of the production and the all-around greatness of my visit to the Plastic Beach.  The album proper drops in just 8 days on March 9th.  Their Coachella set, their first performance in over 5 years is going to be a sight to behold that's for sure, so if you're headed to the desert this April get excited.

Listen Here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124114812 (click the link at the top)

Tracklist:

1. Orchestral Intro (feat. Sinfonia ViVA)
2. Welcome To The World Of The Plastic Beach (feat. Snoop Dogg & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
3. White Flag (feat. Kano, Bashy & The National Orchestra For Arabic Music)
4. Rhinestone Eyes
5. Stylo (feat. Bobby Womack & Mos Def)
6. Superfast Jellyfish (feat. Gruff Rhys & De La Soul)
7. Empire Ants (feat. Little Dragon)
8. Glitter Freeze (feat. Mark E. Smith)
9. Some Kind Of Nature (feat. Lou Reed)
10. On Melancholy Hill
11. Broken
12. Sweepstakes (feat. Mos Def & Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
13. Plastic Beach (feat. Mick Jones & Paul Simonon)
14. To Binge (feat. Little Dragon)
15. Cloud Of Unknowing (feat. Bobby Womack and Sinfonia ViVA)
16. Pirate Jet