That Was The Show That Was: Basement, Adventures, LVL UP, Palehound | Royale, Boston | 16 Aug.

[PHOTO CREDIT: Dillon Riley] Let us now take the measure of the fairly meteoric rise of Purchase, NY-spawned indie rock troupe LVL UP. While a known quantity 'round these parts for some time, the Exploding In Sound-affiliated group recently gained the attention of another perennial hit-maker in Boston's Run For Cover Records. RFC signed on to co-release the Empire State act's forthcoming, Fugazi-ly titled Three Songs 7" with EIS' Double Double Whammy imprint. The short set features, unsurprisingly, three songs, is slated for release Sept. 11, and -- based on the readily available stream -- sounds like another winner in what's shaping up to be a stellar discography for the band. LVL UP put its aural gold on full display Sunday, when it performed on one of the summer's hottest rock bills, and certainly the hottest for host venue Royale in recent memory. Not unlike Clicky Clicky eternal favorites Teenage Fanclub (or, we suppose, any three quarters of power-pop lifers Sloan), LVL UP presents the charms of three legitimate songwriting talents, adding a layer of anticipation to its already hotly anticipated performances.

LVL UP labelmates Palehound opened the show, promoting the release of its potentially world-conquering debut LP Dry Food. Although the boundless charm of Palehound's first releases does not seem to dim with age, it's clear that the more assured and nuanced Dry Food is a huge leap forward. Sunday evening fronter Ellen Kempner's cutting guitar work and graceful lyricism shone during a set highlighted by the start-stop dynamics of "Cushioned Caging" and the jaunty, psych-tinged guitar leads on "Cinnamon." The latter also served to emphasize Ms. Kempner's even-tempered, yet commanding stage presence. Her brief but pointed condemnation of aggressive harassment at a past show on Palehound's current tour underscored Kempner's growing comfort wielding her voice as a "public person," something raised in the uniformly glowing press surrounding the release of Dry Food, issued by Exploding In Sound just last week. While its big-sister band Speedy Ortiz has set the most recent and obvious precedent for a big Boston break-out, Palehound may have in its stellar LP just the munitions necessary for a similar assault on the overground.

Pittsburgh-based power-pop quintet Adventures batted third for the night, bringing to the stage an armful of tunes from its still-hot Run For Cover debut Supersonic Home. Much of the early buzz surrounding the group centered around its affiliation with the hardcore group Code Orange, with whom Adventures share three members. But Adventures more than stands on its own right. The fivesome trades in the sort of big-riff vulnerability favored by the standouts on Detroit's Salinas Records, yet with even bigger guitars and a fuller sound. All of which is set off by frontwoman Reba Meyers' otherworldly voice, one capable of chilling harmonies and show-stopping solo turns. The wholly captivating Supersonic Home was released by Run For Cover in February.

UK post-hardcore heroes (at least to the all-ages set -- Ed.) Basement closed out the night with a wide-ranging set that dipped into all three of its Run For Cover releases. While Colourmeinkindness remains as natural a document of RFC's formidable influence as any, it was the tunes off their most recent Further Sky EP that drew the most cheers from our camp. "Summer's Colour," the Failure-tastic lead track from the EP, proved a critical component of Basement's live set, as the pretty, ascending melodies in the chorus offered a brief, yet potent respite from the thrash. The Boston show was the penultimate night of Basement's three-week U.S. tour; it closed out the strand of dates last night in New York's Gramercy Theater. -- Dillon Riley

Basement: Facebook | Tumblaaaaaahh
Adventures: Facebook | Tumblaaaaah
LVL UP: Bandcamp | Facebook
Palehound: Bandcamp | Facebook

Review: Hoax Hunters | Comfort & Safety

Richmond threesome Hoax Hunters with its debut long-player has created an expansive, divergent set of punk-worshipping monoliths, each tune shaping an American post-hardcore lineage into formalized and nostalgic architectural shapes. The electrifying new set, Comfort & Safety, firmly establishes the trio as a noisy, squalling force, one that is both more informed and more nubile [HEY NOW -- Ed.] than many of its peers.

Hoax Hunters has been a fixture slowly rising up from the RVA scene for several years; it released a split single with Richmond dream-pop luminaries The Snowy Owls in early 2013. Long before the creation of the band, fronter and guitarist P.J. Sykes built a reputation as a go-to music photographer, relentlessly and selflessly documenting the local indie rock scene, and having work featured in Spin Magazine, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post and elsewhere. Mr. Sykes has also contributed photographs to a slew of highly regarded albums from Clicky Clicky faves including legends Superchunk and Versus. Unsurprisingly, Sykes' connected-ness within the mid-Atlantic music scene is the source of one of Comfort & Safety's strongest, defining traits: his love for currently overlooked post-hardcore standard-bearers from the mid-to-late-'80s Dischord stable -- groups like Rites of Spring, Gray Matter, Three and early Fugazi -- is reflected in his songwriting. These aforementioned bands moved punk into broader, more melodic, "mathy," and noisy territory, and to this reviewer their contributions at times seem overshadowed by trendier names and louder personalities. Hoax Hunters, however, honors these deeper and deeply important roots of the American underground, and casts their sounds and ideals within a modern framework, much like contemporary beloved and buzzed smashers Metz and Hausu.

Hoax Hunters' connection to The Snowy Owls is also illuminating. While far from a shoegazer outfit, Sykes and co. interestingly mix the vocals quite low, a move that emphasizes the shifting lead and rhythm patterns, which come courtesy of The Snowy Owls' drummer James O'Neill. Mr. O'Neill's drums bash loudly, and his great tom work is heavily foregrounded on Hoax Hunters' buzz-sawing rocker "Volume" and its tense thriller "Riskless Business." Clever studio trickery throughout injects interesting depth and dimension to Comfort & Safety and varies from song to song. Single "Breathe" utilizes swirling flange and panning in its opening moments to tasteful effect, and Sykes' various vocal filters here and elsewhere supply a subtly grit to the proceedings. Like many classic albums, these production methods give Hoax Hunters' debut a kineticism that accretes across the record toward album highlight and de facto closer "Erase." The standout track -- which apparently features "homemade electric dulcitar" from a guest player -- combines an experimental sound-collage introduction, a quick-burning hardcore song, and an extended, searing coda (which talks the listener down from the intensity of the previous numbers) to create what is perhaps Hoax Hunters most compelling composition to date. The chorus' dynamic, shout-along chant channels both the rage and joy that these guys bring to their music. "You. Can. Not. Erase," Sykes proclaims -- the final declaration that the hard work and values of those within a scene will live on, again and again.

Comfort & Safety was released last week on vinyl and as a digital download (sorry, no CDs, retro futurists!). Raleigh's Negative Fun is selling the LP (the very first to be offered by the label), and it is for sale right here. Richmond-based Cherub Records is handling the digital download sales, and if that is more to your taste, this is where you want to be. Stream the entire set via the Bandcamp embed below. -- Edward Charlton

Hoax Hunters: Bandcamp | Facebook | Internerds

Today's Hotness: Bleeding Rainbow, Milkshake, Solids

>> Hotly tipped and Philly-based noise-pop purveyors Bleeding Rainbow's terrific new long-player Interrupt may prove to be little surprise to fans of the band's progression from lo-fi bedroom act to wide-screen dreamscapers. But even so, that evolution, no doubt influenced in part by the act's expansion to a solidified four-piece, is captured in vivid and urgent bloom on the new set, which will be released by Brooklyn’s Kanine Records Tuesday. The music of the current iteration of Bleeding Rainbow maps a mean between the angular kinetics of Burning Airlines and the tuneful rush of early Velocity Girl, proffering plenty of earworm choruses and loads of ringing guitars that flatten against the edges of the envelope of the stereo field. Co-fronter Sarah Everton's voice swims among the guitar tracks, while Rob Garcia's thrilling, aggressive lead vocal on "Images" could have come straight off of Drive Like Jehu's legendary Yank Crime. At press time this coming weekend's Bleeding Rainbow show at Tasty Burger in Harvard Square has been cancelled, according to this well-reported piece over at Vanyaland. It's unclear whether the show will be moved, and the band may be slightly less incentivized to deal with the bullshit of moving the show as they are already slated to play Hotel Vernon in Worcester the night before (see all Bleeding Rainbow’s tour dates right here). It would be a shame if the night doesn't go off, however, as the bill also included local heavies Fat Creeps and Boston indie pop phenoms Bent Shapes. Pre-order Interrupted on red or blue vinyl, or on what is in all likelihood a metallic silver compact disc, from Kanine right here. Below you may stream three absolutely smoking album tracks. -- Dillon Riley







>> It's no secret that this reviewer thrives on left-field twists in indie rock, and the latest from Melbourne, Australia-based dream-pop outfit Milkshake certainly delivers. The act is a side project of Bored Nothing's Fergus Miller, who joins with some fellow Aussies from the combo Retro Culture to make this remarkable and charming EP. Milkshake EP II, which was self-released Jan. 25, combines instrumental introspection with great production, engrossing guitar textures and wispy vocals, making for some bracing shoegaze that nearly evades categorization. The highlight of the short set is "Repeater" (after arguably the best Fugazi song, perhaps?), a tune that emphasizes warm drum production, floating, picked guitar work, and powerful, yet distanced, singing. While most groups tilling similar sonic terrain might choose to emphasize the strings, Milkshake's power is founded in the jazzy drum work. The snare and toms' vintage-sounding, analog dimensions would seem to have been modeled on a classic Vince Guaraldi cut (an early dream-pop master of the highest order, but that’s another discussion for another day). After "Repeater" well, repeats overdriven guitar sections and choruses, it settles into a beautiful, piano-led bliss out section that maximizes pristine chords; the section builds intensity yet never shakes a lightweight, airy vibe. Elsewhere, "The Way Back Through" employs interesting, fuzzed-out snare work, while "End" presents a full-blown ambient hiss piece that leaves listeners too soon. Milkshake deftly balances progressive elements on these cuts with a DIY indie aesthetic, rendering thought-provoking music ideal for a crisp, clear fall morning. It's all very compelling stuff, stuff that reminds us of the 2012 sleeper classic from Pacific Valley, Woodgate Valley. Grab Milkshake EP II as a digital download for any price, or order one of a limited number of handmade CDs (in a "sensual, handmade CD casing"), right here. -- Edward Charlton



>> Last week Montreal-based fuzz-rock duo Solids dropped a scorching Fat Possum debut titled Blame Confusion, and, well, if you gotta blame something, that's a good place to start. A stirring blur of head-on pop-acknowledging punk -- but certainly not pop-punk -- the long-player nonetheless wears its influences proudly on its sleeves. The thick, swirling guitars recall vintage Dinosaur Jr., while frontdude Xavier German-Poitras' vocals echo a dozen first-wave Midwest emo records. Much like fellow Canadian duo Japandroids, Solids have a sound totally conducive to late-night, steering wheel-slamming drives. However, while Japandroids aim to channel the foggy fragments of that one night you'll never forget, Solids' noise-addled numbers feel more akin to living those boozy nights in real time. Call it I Can't Remember Why We're Celebrating Rock, maybe... Last week Solids released a video for album highlight "Haze Away," which you may view view right here in all its cartoon glory. The band undertakes a North American tour this spring that will bring them to Boston's venerable Great Scott March 17; full tour dates are listed right here. We recommend you order Blame Confusion on vinyl, CD, or as a digital download from the Corpulent Possum right here; while you wait for your mersh to arrive, stream the primo face-scrapers "Trace" and "Haze Away" via the Soundcloud embeds below. -- Dillon Riley

Forever Now: The Infinity Girl Interview

It's that they make it look so easy, that's what initially enticed us to approach the chaps in upstart Boston shoegaze unit Infinity Girl for an interview. With almost zero warning, the foursome issued in May a very impressive full-length debut, Stop Being On My Side, which we reviewed here last month. There were no singles and very few shows to serve as harbingers for the set, making the band's sudden leap into the vanguard of the city's expanding shoegaze scene all the more surprising. With its remarkable debut out, a personnel change brought on by the departure of founding bassist Ransom for Los Angeles, and some great live bills facing Infinity Girl in August, we thought it was high time to check in with the band, which is certainly among the most promising of Boston's current crop of startlingly good young bands. Fronter and guitarist Nolan Eley and drummer Sebastian Modak were very gracious with their time, and while we ultimately didn't learn why it is the songs seem to come so easily, we did get a feel for how the band did what it did and does what it does.

Clicky Clicky: You've just released a very good record. If you could choose another, released by anyone ever, that you wish Infinity Girl could have made itself, what would it be? And you're not allowed to say Loveless.

Nolan Eley: If I was answering this for myself I might say Emergency And I by Dismemberment Plan, but as a band we'd probably go with Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth.

Sebastian Modak: I think it would have been pretty nice to have made Yuck's recent record. Personally, I would be content with life if I had played drums on Fugazi's 13 Songs (yeah, it's a compilation, but whatever). I can't even imagine what it would feel like to play those songs live.

CC: There were very few shows and no singles leading up to the release of the record. And that's one of the things that made a big impression on me: no single, no fucking around, just a handful of shows and then BOOM, a wonderful, fully formed full-length. It reminds me of the genesis story of the Greek goddess Athena. Did Infinity Girl feel like it was important to make such a strong statement right out of the starting gate?

NE: Thank you, to be honest, it was kind of surprising how easily it happened. I think we just wanted to record the songs we had and at first we were thinking it was probably going to be a 6-track EP when we initially went into the studio. We had just learned "Void" at that point and decided trying to record it. We did a few takes that weren't that great, but listening back, the energy was so good we decided to include that on the record. Shortly after those sessions happened Seb and I wrote "By Now" and we were all like 'we have to put this on the record.' So we went into the studio and recorded that. So at this point we were sitting on 8 songs and thinking 'is this an EP or a full length?' Then "Pulling A Smile From A Drawer" happened almost on accident, I was messing around with this piano at The Record Company, it's an acoustic piano but it has electric pickups on it, so I was running it through a bunch of guitar pedals, just messing around. Thank God somebody hit the record button. Anyways, after that I got the idea to record some instrumental tracks. Those, I think, helped the record really flow together as a full length and brought it up to 11 tracks.

CC: Who does the bulk of Infinity Girl's songwriting?

NE: I've done most of the songwriting so far, but the songwriting process is evolving as we play more.

SM: [When t]he band started [it was] based around songs Nolan had already written. We were already friends and I heard him playing at a weekly songwriter's circle that some close friends of mine used to run at All Asia [in Cambridge, Mass.]. I immediately started fantasizing about how great the songs would sound, louder and with a full band. What you hear on the record is mostly from Nolan's existing songs. But as the band has evolved, so has the songwriting process. I wrote the lyrics to "By Now," while I was in Spain and sent them to Nolan while he was in China... So, it's not always just Nolan. But most of the time he'll be the one that turns our ideas into something that sounds kind of like a song.

CC: The reason I ask about songwriters is that, from a songwriting standpoint, there seems to be a tension in your music between the more pure shoegaze stuff and something like "Cellophane And Gold," which is more uptempo and has almost a punk edge, or the lyrics to the chorus of "Cannons," which is surprisingly up top of the mix and pretty emo?

NE: I think the reason for this is that most of the songs on the record did not start out as a band writing them together. I have always just written and recorded music for fun. Sometimes I would keep the songs hidden on my computer, sometimes I would put them online for my friends to hear. Creating an album with a consistent aesthetic was not my priority. I just wrote the songs how I felt that day or that week. Some of them were straight-up shoegaze, some of them with complex orchestral arrangments, some folky, some electronic. I guess the songs that made it onto the record and into the Infinity Girl catalog were the ones that translated over to a four-piece rock band the easiest.

SM: It's also a product of what we're listening to. Sure, a lot of what has influenced us comes from the same time period, but when you're (subconsciously or otherwise) thinking about "Big Day Coming" by Yo La Tengo and "The Leper" by Dinosaur the result can be all over the place. And I think that's a good thing.

CC: Did you heavily demo Stop Being On My Side? I'm just curious to know how hard you had to work to get the sounds on the record? Did you bring a record to the producer and say "make it sound like this?"

NE: About half the songs I had recorded beforehand, for my own personal enjoyment, so this gave the producer and the band a pretty strong idea of what certain songs were going to sound like. Also we recorded some live demos in our practice space so we could all listen to the songs and share ideas about them. From experience I gained recording my own music, I already had a lot of ideas as far as the sounds for the record. I just had to get these ideas across to the other people involved in making it.

SM: Once we got the idea in our heads to make a record, we reached out to our friend (and new bassist) Mitch Stewart to produce. He and Pat McCusker engineered it at The Record Company -- they're both close friends of ours (I went to high school with Mitch and play in another band with both of them called Friendly People). We did a couple of demos in our practice space as well and I think both Mitch and Pat knew what we wanted in terms of sounds by the time we spent two insane nights at The Record Company. It was a really open, not to mention surreal, experience, considering the time of night we were able to get recording time, and the sounds kind of shaped themselves along the way.

CC: Shoegaze, or at least shoegaze influences, certainly seems to be having a moment in the Boston music scene right now. Does that sort of external influence, what you are seeing out in clubs and basements, factor into what you do at all?

NE: I've been mostly unaware of the local shoegaze scene until recently, and I'm pretty excited about it. I would say that the music we make mostly just comes from us liking the music we like and being friends enough to share a few hours a week together playing what we like playing.

SM: It helps that people are into it right now, but we're just a band that is doing what we individually and collectively love to do. If it turns out that people are into it, then that's fantastic and we really appreciate it. But we'd be doing it anyway if we were the only noisy band in town. It's just that ALL our shows would be at the Elks Lodge, if that was the case.

CC: The common conception is that a band in the early part of its career focuses in and settles on a style in time. Do you guys step back and think about where you are heading, about where you might be stylistically two years from now?

NE: We don't really think about this too much, I know I'll always keep writing music that reflects the music I'm currently listening to, and what's happening in my life, and we will always want to play music, so wherever that takes us is where we'll end up. As long as everyone else in the band doesn't hate me and I don't hate them we'll keep on doing this thing.

CC: Assuming people can agree on what the term shoegaze really means anymore, it's hard to think of a lot of examples of shoegaze bands that have had long, continuous careers -- much to my own disappointent, I'll say. This is sort of a loaded question, but as songwriters and music fans, do you think shoegaze is too limiting a style to sustain a band creatively over the course of, say, a ten-year career?

NE: Shoegaze is such a niche genre. Loveless simultaneously created and destroyed it. Everything that can be said in that language has been pretty much said on that album. I think the only way shoegaze bands can survive is if they have something else to offer along with it. It's not really straight-up shoegaze bands that are surviving but mostly bands with shoegaze influences; bands like Deerhunter or Yo La Tengo that have these undoubtedly shoegaze moments but are diverse enough in their arrangements to avoid being pigeonholed as just a shoegaze band.

SM: Whenever I'm describing Infinity Girl to people, I'll use the word "shoegazey," and immediately feel like an idiot. But it kind of makes sense. It's true that the term "shoegaze" has lost a lot of its significance over time, but I don't think bands like ours are making shoegaze music, in the most traditional sense of the word. Sure, we're inspired by bands like MBV and JAMC but we'll never be them or even sound like contemporaries. That music came out of a very specific time and place, both literally and culturally. What's happening now is its own beast and I think it will develop in its own way, independent of nostalgia. I think we're part of that and that will definitely sustain us creatively. The risk comes only if we box ourselves in, and I don't think that has happened or will happen any time soon.

CC: You've got two shows coming up next month. Will these be the first with Mitch Stewart playing bass live for you?

SM: Yes. Having spent so much time with the songs -- producing, engineering and mixing the record -- it was very easy having him take over on bass. I think he knows the parts better than the rest of us do at this point. Surprised he's not too sick of them at this point. That being said, Ransom is a big part of what has made Infinity Girl what it is and I hope he hates LA (joking... sort of).

CC: What's next for Infinity Girl after the shows in August? What do the next six months look like for you guys?

NE: We are just trying to play as many shows as we can around the area, and get people listening to our record. We've got an EP (probably) still in the demo stage, we haven't started recording anything yet. The songs sound summery and less dark than Stop Being On My Side does, so it would be nice if we could get it done while it's still warm out. Obviously though we're not going to compromise anything just so we can rush it out before the next equinox.

CC: Thanks so much for giving this interview, guys.

SM: Thank YOU. It's fantastic what you are doing for the Boston music scene with your blog. Far too few people are pointing people towards good music with the consistency and eloquence that you do. It's humbling to be included in all of that.

NE: Thank you for taking an interest in us! Seriously, we've all been fans of this blog for a while now and it's so cool to be included in it.

See Infinity Girl live at Precinct in Somerville Aug. 4 [Facebook event page] and at TT The Bear's Aug. 30 with the mighty Soccer Mom and serial face-melters Young Adults [tickets].

Infinity Girl: Internerds | Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube

YouTube Rodeo: Fashoda Crisis' "Animals"

Rock and roll music: You like it. We like it. Essex, UK-based noise rock trio Fashoda Crisis plays it. You will watch their video --populated as it is with various perversions of your dreams as a seven-year-old in stop motion with much yelling -- and for the first two-thirds of it you will wonder what the hell is going on. We took this as a sign that Fashoda Crisis are on to something (or at least on something). "Animals" is a single from the band's forthcoming sophomore set Him Make They Learn Read, which will be released in September. The song presents an ominous prelude before blasting into some head-down, hard rock boogie that rests somewhere on an imaginary axis between Fugazi and Fu Manchu. Based on our social networks, many of you are drinking heavily right now and waiting for the hurricane or tornadoes to tear your roof off. Let Fashoda Crisis ease you into it. The band formed in 2005 and its first record was called Mischief Of One Kind And Another (a title which we are very familiar with from reading the source to our daughter almost daily), and it was self-released by the band in January 2009. We don't have a hard date for the release of Him Make They Learn Read, but rest assured it is coming. Stream or download "Animals" via the embed below.

Review: The Books | The Way Out

While it doesn't sound the way we had guessed it would, experimental folk copy-pasters The Books' latest surreal set The Way Out is the act's most emotionally direct work yet. It has been five years since the itinerant duo released its beautiful third full length Lost And Safe, but the career caesura does not appear to have affected its approach to creating captivating, inscrutable music. This despite the fact that the poignant, spine-tingling and almost sample-free closing cut on Lost And Safe was a relatively conventional ballad, which we had assumed was a harbinger of things to come from the band. We were wrong. Instead, The Way Out finds The Books retrenched in its familiar mesh of absurd found sounds, field recordings, acoustic instruments, beats and occasionally spiritual lyrics.

It took seeing The Books live (in 2005, as referenced in our review of Lost And Safe here) for us to realize how central humor is to its music. We had previously recognized the quirk, but the visuals the augmented duo used to accompany its mesmerizing, extended musical koans in a live setting made plain that The Books are as much amused by life as they are amazed by it. Perhaps because of that experience we find The Way Out to be the most humorous of The Books' four iconoclastic full lengths; one listen to the hilarious amalgamation of kids goofin' called "A Cold Freezin' Night" bears this out. But it's not just the humor that is more potent: "I Am Who I Am" is stunning in its cold aggression (well, relative aggression). While we recognize that The Books are satirizing the quasi-dictatorial/actually kind of pathetic declarations that are sampled, the song is uncharacteristically dark, but thrillingly so. "I Am Who I Am" features a male voice emphatically ranting over a jungle-ish rhythm track and something like electric bassoon drones; the result sounds like something created by Pailhead, the amazing '80s collaboration between Fugazi fronter Ian Mackaye and Ministry's Al Jourgenson.

We found a record store/label that has posted samples from each song on The Way Out to Soundcloud, and so we've embedded the series of samples below. Please support The Books and pick up this very special record July 20 (tomorrow) when it is released. Or, of course, you can buy the thing from the duo's new label, Temporary Residence, right here. The Books have booked an uncharacteristically long (we think) strand of tour dates to support the release of The Way Out, and all the dates we are aware of as of this writing are posted below. Boston-area readers should make special note of The Books' appearances at Wilco's Solid Sound Festival next month and at The Somerville Theater in October.


[pre-order The Way Out from Temporary Residence Ltd. right here]

The Books: Internerds | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

08.13 -- Solid Sound Festival -- North Adams, MA
09.04 -- ATP Music Festival -- Monticello, NY
09.29 -- The Trocadero -- Philadelphia, PA
09.30 -- 9:30 Club -- Washington, DC
10.01 -- Sheafer Theater -- Durham, NC
10.03 -- Variety Playhouse -- Atlanta, GA
10.04 -- Square Room -- Knoxville, TN
10.05 -- Jefferson Theater -- Charlottesville, VA
10.21 -- Somerville Theater -- Somerville, MA
10.22 -- Pearl Street -- Northampton, MA
10.23 -- Cabaret Mile End -- Montreal, QC
10.24 -- Capitol Music Hall -- Ottawa, ON
10.25 -- The Mod Club -- Toronto, ON
10.26 -- Crofoot Ballroom -- Pontiac, MI
10.27 -- Ladies Literary Club -- Grand Rapids, MI
10.29 -- Vic Theater -- Chicago, IL
10.30 -- Cedar Cultural Center -- Minneapolis, MN
10.30 -- Cedar Cultural Center -- Minneapolis, MN
11.13 -- Zankel Hall -- New York, NY
11.30 -- Palace of Fine Arts -- San Francisco, CA
12.03 -- Aladdin Theater -- Portland, OR
12.04 -- Moore Theatre -- Seattle, WA
12.05 -- Vogue Theater -- Vancouver, BC

Today's Hotness: Lilys, The Secret History, Cannons

>> In our opinion the best half-hour of music broadcast every weekday is the first quarter of WMBR's long-running, completely crucial radio program Breakfast Of Champions. We typically capture a chunk of said half-hour whilst commuting, and therein we encounter songs pre-filtered for awesomeness by trustworthy sources. Allow us to digress further by directing your attention to the fact that this week Breakfast Of Champions' band of the week will be the Lilys, one of this blog's all-time, top-five favorite acts; you can hear the band of the week segment at 8:30AM US east coast time every day, and we strongly suggest you check it out.

>> The true purpose of the item above was to set up this one, in which we tell you about one of the acts we recently encountered on Breakfast Of Champions, The Secret History. Perhaps named for one of our favorite books, perhaps not, the curiously hyper-sartorial Brooklyn-based indie pop septet issued in March a full-length debut The World That Never Was on the label Le Grand Magistery. The Secret History's primary songwriter is a fellow named Michael Grace, Jr., formerly of the act My Favorite. Mr. Grace is abetted by a large cast, but apparently vocals are handled by Lisa Ronson, the daughter of the vaunted Bowie sideman Mick Ronson. The new collection is packed with somewhat theatrical narratives, but there is enough rock to keep things focused. The lead track seems to be the strongest: it's an upbeat, heavily Brit-pop influenced (think The Primitives; were they considered Brit-pop?) gem called "Johnny Anorak." Oh the beautiful guitars in this track, oh the terrifically hooky chorus. Have a listen.

The Secret History's "Johnny Anorak"

>> We've spent a lot of time recently listening to Philly-based post-hardcore quartet Cannons' debut long-player Friendly Muscles. The record reminds us of those years in the early '90s when everybody you knew had a band, and a lot of those bands were heavily influenced by D.C. hardcore generally, and Fugazi specifically. Of course, part of the magic of Fugazi was the band's visionary blend of hardcore, reggae and hip-hop, and it remains to be seen if Cannons will find a unique sonic identity and aesthetic that can similarly unify a nation of spiritually dispossessed youth. But the act has an energy and sound that fans of vintage D.C. sounds will find immediately palatable. The year-old Cannons self-released Friendly Muscles in early March, and they were cool enough to consent to our offering the awesome rocker "In Times Of Crisis, People Direct Traffic" below. Cannons has cycled through a series of bass players but has finally settled on a chap named Marcus, and the foursome aims to record five new songs for a planned EP later this year. There are two upcoming shows in Philadelphia, and we've listed those dates below.

Cannons' "In Times Of Crisis, People Direct Traffic"

05.12 -- The Khyber -- Philadelphia, PA
05.22 -- JR’s Bar -- Philadelphia, PA

Today's Hotness: Los Campesinos, Frightened Rabbit

>> Sheer and utter brilliance above from Cardiff, Wales-repping tweesters Los Campesinos! in the form of a video for their tune "Death To Los Campesinos!", which we've only just watched. You never expect the killer unicorn, do you?

>> So it turns out Johnny Foreigner's limited edition single, "Our Bipolar Friends" b/w "The Houseparty Scene Is Killing You," is even more limited. The Birmingham, England-based indie rock superheroes' platter -- slated for release Tuesday -- was intended to be issued in an edition of 1,000. However, apparently more than 200 copies have gone missing. So good luck getting your hands on one, particularly if you are based outside the UK. What with all the pre-sales, there are only about 100 copies left to be had. Fortunately, we pre-ordered in January. For those of you going to South By Southwest, you've got three chances to catch the act, errr... in the act. For those of you with no chance in hell of getting to Austin or getting your hands on the new single, there is still some consolation: Johnny Foreigner has just posted a new track from the forthcoming full-length Waited Up 'Til It Was Light at its MySpace dojo here. The new number is "Henning's Favorite," it touts some gratuitous panning and a simple arrangement, and it is the first track from the band that hasn't blown our minds. We've only listened to it once, so we expect it will be a grower. Finally, we've got some idea of what the band's first official video for a song from the album will be. We won't share just yet, but if you've been paying attention it's a song you already know. So there.

>> Pretty great video blog over at the Frightened Rabbit MySpace hizzy right here. Points of interest: we're always blown away when we are reminded that for whatever reason indie rockers look alike the world over. Also interesting to note that, at least for this date, the Glaswegian indie rock trio has expanded to include a third guitarist, which we expect makes the band's brawling live attack that much more brawling and attackish. DrownedInSound reviewed the same FR show featured in the clip here, for those wanting additional editorial filtration. Frightened Rabbit are also making a beeline to SXSW, and you should see them by any means necessary if you are planning to attend. We're still sitting on our review of the band's forthcoming sophomore set The Midnight Organ Fight, which streets April 15, but we expect we'll get it online this coming week.

>> Indie rockers The Dandy Warhols take their stand against The Man by forming their own label in partnerhip with artist management and label services firm World's Fair Group. While we've never kept a close eye on the band's career, we were wowed when we heard a track from its 2005 set Odditorium Or Warlords Of Mars somewhere, so we picked it up and were favorably impressed. You can read more about the band being dropped from Capitol and its motivation for starting the new label, Beat The World, in this Billboard article. It's interesting to note the The Dandies' licensing revenue was far surpassing its sales revenue at a certain point in its career (we expect having their song used as the theme for the popular television program "Veronica Mars" helped a lot). On a similar note, a Wall Street Journal preview here of the South By Southwest music conference that was published today reports that the nature of the A&R work this year will be firmly tilted toward folks looking to license music for television and et cetera, as opposed to folks looking to sign bands to record contracts.

>> Have you seen the EPK Quicktime clip promoting the Mission Of Burma reissues we mentioned earlier this week? It makes us more and more excited for March 18. You can watch it here; note that it will take a while for the clip to load, but it's worth it.

>> Potentially important news for the Boston live music fan: Berklee College of Music is opening an all ages venue at 939 Boylston. We're almost twice the age of majority, so we don't view this as providing a service particularly germane to us. But we expect we'll see more bands with younger audiences come to Boston as a result of the new venue. Also, maybe Fugazi will reform and play there. Well, probably not -- but maybe The Evens, yeh? But it is hard to see next month's opening of the new venue, called Cafe 939, as anything but a positive for the Boston scene. Now books some shows we want to see. More details at On The Download here.

Review: Bob Mould | Circle Of Friends [DVD]

More so than any other concert film we've watched in recent memory, the new Bob Mould DVD "Circle Of Friends" conveys the feeling that you are actually at the show. We don't mean to say that the experience is flawless; it feels a lot like being close to the stage, but maybe off to one side. This is primarily because, curiously, "Circle Of Friends" doesn't feature a single straight-on shot of Mr. Mould while he is performing. All the tight "one shots" of the storied songwriter are shot up from the floor of the venue. It's an oddity in an otherwise very good film.

Shot at the final gig of a six-week tour in 2005 at the 9:30 Club in Mould's most recent hometown Washington, D.C., "Circle Of Friends" captures Mould reconciling with his guitar-heavy past. The show is surprisingly devoid of the dance-oriented sounds that captivated the former Husker Du and Sugar fronter in recent years, despite the fact that his DJ partner Richard Morel (a/k/a just plain old Morel) plays keys as part of the touring band. Rounding out the combo is ace Fugazi skin pounder Brendan Canty and the very able bassist and backing singer Jason Narducy, whose contributions go a long way to fill out the live sound.

Another thing we didn't expect was the pre-show interviews with each of the players, which combine into a little featurette about how Mould rounded up the members of his backing band. But the real show here is the combo's vibrant, angsty performances. It takes a few songs for Mould and Co. to really nail the groove (which is too bad, as cataclysmic opener "The Act We Act," the lead cut on Sugar's electrifying debut and a :: clicky clicky :: favorite, would have shone more brightly later in the set) but once that happens -- around the solo in "Paralyzed" -- the performance is a series of air-tight, no-nonsense (no stage patter, either), gloriously heavy rock songs.

Highlights include the surprising guitar work on the fretboard during the solo of "Hoover Dam" and the slowed-down, subdued version of "Hardly Getting Over It." The quiet treatment for that latter tune deftly sets up well-time dynamic explosions in the last verse. And then the song steps directly into a one-two punch of Husker Du classics, "Could You Be The One?" and then a soaring version of "I Apologize."

An insert in the DVD case promotes Mould's forthcoming set District Line, which will be released in January on Anti. According to the ad, the record contains "memorable melodies, heart-heavy lyrics, plenty of guitars." It's little surprise that that's exactly what "Circle Of Friends" delivers as well. Mould began a tour promoting the DVD release in Chicago Tuesday night; there were apparently some problems with "DVD playback," according to one his most recent blog posts, but we're certain any kinks will be worked out by the time Mould hits the Paradise Lounge in Boston Nov. 5. Full promo tour dates are below. Buy "Circle Of Friends" from MVD right here.

Bob Mould: Internets | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

10/10 -- Bryant Lake Bowl -- Minneapolis, Minnesota
10/12 -- Chop Suey -- Seattle, Washington
10/14 -- Doug Fir Lounge -- Portland, Oregon
10/16 -- Herbst Theater -- San Francisco, California
10/17 -- The Roxy Theater -- Hollywood, California
10/20 -- Lincoln Theater -- Washington, Washington DC
10/20 -- 9:30 Club -- Washington, Washington DC
11/02 -- Highline Ballroon -- New York, New York
11/05 -- Paradise Lounge -- Boston, Massachusetts
11/08 -- Gravity Lounge -- Charlottesville, Virginia
11/10 -- John & Peter’s -- New Hope
11/11 -- World Cafe Live -- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
11/17 -- 9:30 Club -- Washington, DC
12/08 -- Highline Ballroom -- New York, New York
12/15 -- 9:30 Club -- Washington, DC

Today's Hotness: Spoon, Fugazi, Christie Front Drive

>> Have you been saving your shekels (or Koomzles) for the big new release day tomorrow? We'll likely step out for the new Interpol set, hoping that Newbury Comics is offering it at a good discount. In our estimation, however, the biggest release is the new Spoon set, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, which we've been listening to daily since the promo arrived. A truly superlative effort, wall-to-wall, song for song, with typically tight, deconstructed pop songs and really engaging production. Our pre-order arrived Saturday. It was packaged with the bonus disc Get Nice, which we can report is almost as forgettable as Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is unforgettable (sorry guys). It's certainly an interesting listen, but the only track we imagine we'll be returning to is the demo version of "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb." Anyway, as far as other new releases, we imagine we'll grab the new Buffalo Tom after reading a lot of good things, and maybe the new They Might Be Giants because it was produced by Jon Brion and is supposedly a bit of a rock record. And that'll be that.

Spoon -- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga [album stream]

>> Pre-orders are now being taken for Glen Friedman's very promising book of Fugazi photos titled "Keep Your Eyes Open." The hardcover streets Sept. 3, costs $30 and includes about 200 images spread across 112 pages. Perhaps equally as exciting is noted raconteur and former Nation Of Ulysses and Make Up fronter Ian Svenonious has penned a 6,000-word essay included in the book. There's more info here.

>> Although the news broke last week, we feel it is worth noting that superlative second-wave emo giants Christie Front Drive will reunite for a single, all-ages performance Sept. 1 at DenverFest III. Needless to say, kids on the message boards are going nuts, and prepping for long drives. The Denver-based quartet broke up in 1998. Its split 10" with Boys Life, released on Crank! in April 1996, is among the best 10" records ever released. The record is out of print -- not sure if that goes for the CD version we picked up several years ago, too. But in the event you've never heard Christie Front Drive, this is our favorite jam of theirs, as we'll throw in Boys Life's obliterating "Two Wheeled Train" from the flipside to boot:

Christie Front Drive -- "Valentine" -- Christie Front Drive/Boys Life split 10"
Boys Life -- "Two Wheeled Train" -- Christie Front Drive/Boys Life split 10"
[right click and save as]

>> A local note for Bostonians. After an interminable renovation, one-time dive live venue O'Brien's in Allston Rock City is set to re-open. The only venue we've ever played at twice. More details at The Phoenix here.