The Current Music Blog: May 9, 2008 Archive

The Stream 05/09/08

Posted at 9:06 AM on May 9, 2008 by Barb Abney

Win tickets to see Coldplay for free.

Margot & The Nuclear So & So's former drummer has died.

Yaz (or Yazoo, if you prefer) are reuniting, touring and releasing a box-set.

Today In Music History:
1935 - Nokie Edwards (The Ventures) was born.
1950 - Tom Petersson (Cheap Trick) was born.
1962 - Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode) was born.
1962 - Paul Heaton (Housemartins, The Beautiful South) was born.
1970 - The Guess Who's "American Woman" was #1.
1980 - "I Don't Like Mondays" by The Boomtown Rats won the best pop song at the 25th Ivor Novello Awards.
1998 - Jimmy Page appeared on SNL with rapper Sean 'Puffy' Combs to perform a tune from the Godzilla soundtrack.

Do The Shuffle

Posted at 1:50 PM on May 9, 2008 by Mac Wilson (1 Comments)

Let's rock and roll!

The Impressions - "Same Thing It Took"
The great thing about the Impressions is how many of their songs have become standards to me without even knowing it. When listening to a compilation of theirs, I was stunned at the number of tracks I recognized.

The Alarmists - "New Romans"
Appropriately, a track from a local band I've been enjoying over the last few years. The synths make me think of some ancient AM '70s Gold song, which I mean as a compliment. [I have substituted another Alarmists song in lieu of the inexplicable absence of "New Romans" from the Imeem database.] The Alarmists' Eric Lovold submitted his own My Three Songs set earlier this week in honor of MN150, the state's 150th birthday. What are you doing to celebrate?

The Gothic Archies - "Dreary, Dreary"
One of Stephin Merritt's many side-projects teamed up with Daniel Handler and wrote a song for each of the Lemony Snicket audiobooks. The compilation, The Tragic Treasury, has piqued my interest for this book series (I've never read Harry Potter, either), and it's good to hear Merritt being depressing, but having fun while doing it.

Johnny Cash - "Hurt"
Speaking of having fun, Johnny Cash recorded this Nine Inch Nails cover for his American IV release; perhaps you've heard it. You may also be familiar with the accompanying music video, which is both catastrophically depressing and sadly uplifting: the former for its subject matter and depiction of the passing of time, the latter because of its technical virtuosity -- it may be the greatest video of all time.

Wilco - "The Late Greats"
In various other projects and forums, I've probably written a thousand words on this song. Let's just say I couldn't imagine A Ghost Is Born ending other way.

I'm disappointed, because song #6 that came up on the iPod was Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". But I suppose it's for the best, as that song warrants an entry all its own...

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Live Blogging 05/09/08

Posted at 9:28 AM on May 9, 2008 by Barb Abney

11:55 a.m. My Morning Jacket
Evil Urges is due in stores on June 10th.
They'll be on SNL tomorrow night.
More...

11:45 a.m. Nine Inch Nails
They're playing Target Center on August 2nd.
Grab the latest record Slip, for free.
More...

11:30 a.m. Martha Wainwright
I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too will be in stores on June 10th.
More...

10:40 a.m. Local Music - Atmosphere
When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That S#@! Gold is our CD Of The Week.
Get your own copy when you support The Current online.
They're playing Soundset 08 May 25th along with Dilated Peoples, Aesop Rock, Brother Ali, P.O.S. and many more.
Check out the recent in-studio interview/performance as well as the Fakebook appearance with Chuck D.
More...

10:35 Local Music - The Plastic Constellations
You can still grab the tune "Black Market Pandas" on our Song Of The Day Podcast page.
More...

10:10 a.m. R.E.M.
They're playing The Xcel on June 5th with Modest Mouse and The National.
More...

Song Of The Day Info - Local Music - Polara
Today on our Song Of The Day Podcast we're featuring local music from Polara with the tune "Longest Day" from Beekeeping.
Thier CD release show is tonight at The Varsity. with Joe Werner of Strange Lights, Mercurial Rage, The Mood Swings and The Alarmists
More...

9:50 a.m. Weezer
Their 6th album will be released on June 24th.
If your pre-order it you can grab a limited edition red 7" single of "Pork & Beans."
More...

9:15 a.m. Rilo Kiley
They're playing First Avenue on May 22nd.
More...

9:10 a.m. Beulah (related)
Miles is recording again!

9:00 a.m. Tegan & Sara
They're coming back to town with the the True Colors tour along with Cyndi Lauper, The B-52's and others.
More...

"My 3 Songs" for Friday

Posted at 2:10 PM on May 9, 2008 by Steve Seel

Today we have our final entry in our week-long Minnesota 150 edition of My Three Songs, where we've been inviting local music luminaries to submit their three-song sets. Today: Peter Mielech, partner at Modern Radio Records since 2005. Peter says:

"Would it be totally pretentious to choose 3 local songs from bands on Modern Radio? I've been spending some time revisiting the Modern Radio catalog in preparation for our 9 year anniversary event on May 31st at the Turf Club. I'd like to choose songs from past and present releases that sometimes get overlooked."

1) The Vets, "Equilateral Angel"
2) Cave Deaths, "Hysterical"
3) Jim and the French Vanilla, "My Teacher"

Congrats on the 9 years Peter, and thanks for helping to showcase some of Modern Radio's stuff for us today.

It's been a great week, and thanks to EVERYONE who pitched in with a special set on My Three Songs! Next week, the dancefloor is open to all once again.

Guest DJ Set 5-9-08

Posted at 9:40 PM on May 9, 2008 by Mark Wheat

Occasionally on this regular feature we warp the rules a little bit, like tonight...
Four Tet is the name that Kieran Hebden has been working under for the past 10 years since leaving the band Fridge. Initially he was pegged as being one of the foremost purveyors of 'folktronica' a weird genre label that sprang up to try to explain artists who were using electronic signatures in almost the style of a folk singer. He's also spent time recently working with jazz drummer Steve Reid and compiled an awesome DJ Kicks set in 06. So he can DJ, mixing other peoples work and make great stuff himself like this new cd, 30 mins long with 4 distinct tracks that refer to each other and are perhaps more traditionally 'techno' than he has been in the past. It's called 'Ringer' and is available on CD through Domino Records;
1. Ringer
2. Ribbons
3. Swimmer
4. Wing Body Wing