Today's Hotness: Answering Machine, Frightened Rabbit, Jesus Lizard

>> Turns out we're back already. Check us out.

>> You know, Pitchfork is right: this tune "Silent Hotels" from UK-based indie popsters The Answering Machine is awesome. Great melodies, delicious guitar tone, snappy production. Pure gold, particularly when the call and response lyrics "And I drink till I'm sick / you're sick!" kick in. The track is the A side of a single that will be released June 18 on High Voltage. We've re-posted Pitchfork's stream of the tune in one of those Imeem doo-hickeys below. Pfork ventures that this track sounds akin to the music of Los Campesinos, who we wrote about previously here, but we'd argue that Mancunian trio The Answering Machine has a tougher sound more reminiscent of our favorite Birmingham, UK-based noise pop trio. Anyway, if you live in the UK make certain to hit the link to High Voltage, where you will see the band is playing out darn near every single night in June. There are also three more tracks at the band's MySpace dojo, including the B side to the "Silent Hotels" single. Here's a question: does this band really have no drummer? A better question: where can we buy this single digitally when it is released?



>> There was all manner of interesting industry news in the last couple days. Perhaps the trad music industry types feel the need to make a splash before their fiscal second quarter ends and takes another chunk of its business model down the toilet with it. Anyway, most interesting of all was news that the new DRM-free files sold through Apple's unimaginately monikered ITunes Plus have your name hidden in the metadata, meaning The Man can totally take you to task if you decided to put the files into the P2P hive. There's coverage of that little bit of happiness here, here and here. To Apple's credit, they also announced a deal by which you will be able to access YouTube content such as this The Answering Machine video for "Silent Hotels" via the Apple TV non-set-top home-networking and content-holding lightbox apparatus. The newest Apple TV box is outfitted with a 160GB hard drive that allegedly holds some 200 hours of video or 36,000 songs or 25,000 photos. This new model costs $400, but we don't know why we would ever buy one.

>>The courtship is over and music-oriented social networking service Last.FM has finally been snapped up, as we first speculated here in February. The successful suitor was CBS Corp., who paid $280 million for the UK-based company. This is significantly less than the $450M figure we mentioned here a while back. Last.FM has 15 million users, meaning CBS Corp. paid a little less than $20 per user. We like Last.FM, although we don't hardly take advantage of all of its features, which apparently includes calendaring and show listings and the like in addition to your run-of-the-mill "scrobbling." Here's our Last.FM profile, and here is a link to a Reuters piece about the deal.

>> The other CBS says here that Glaswegian indie pop savants Frightened Rabbit were considering deals with Domino and Fat Cat. Interesting.

>> These candles remind us of the cover of The Sundays' excellent sophomore set Blind.

>> And a final local note: we've been far too busy to crack open our promo copy yet (perhaps Sunday), but for folks less lazy than us, get out and see a screening of the new Jesus Lizard DVD "The Jesus Lizard -- Live" next week at The Middle East (Downstairs) in Central Square, Cambridge. The screening starts at 7PM and is followed by a set from by legendary punkers Gang Green. Do you think they'll put chairs down there? We'll definitely just watch it at home. Look for a review by the end of June.

From The Admin Cubicle: Service Interruption

Aloha. Sorry for the whole boat-load of nothing lately. We've been travelling weekends and working nights on a few back-to-back work commitments. As such we're left with nothing in the hopper. We're hopeful that your :: clicky clicky :: service will be restored to its almost daily frequency next week. In the meantime, why don't you go listen to that Arcade Fire set at The 'Nac? -- The Management.

Today's Hotness: A-Sides, The Sea And Cake, Pop Narcotic

>> This is probably a first: VBS visits Philadelphia's Fishtown section to interview the indie rock up-and-comers The A-Sides and capture them performing slices of hot new numbers. The quintet recently disclosed it had signed to Vagrant. It has had a teaser cut from its long awaited sophomore set Silver Storms floating around since last year, so it is nice the record finally found a home. Anybody with any inside baseball on the deal the band had fall through before the Vagrant deal should shoot us an email; we like stuff like that. Anyway, the new A-Sides material sounds like it has taken cues from the stellar closer "Here or There" from the band's excellent debut Hello, Hello (released on Prison Jazz in 2005). Haven't heard "Cinematic" from Silver Storms yet? Here's a link to the MP3; the record is out Aug. 28.

The A-Sides -- "Cinematic" -- Silver Storms
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>> News to us: In addition to releasing its very sharp seventh studio record this month, veteran indie quartet The Sea And Cake is selling a digital-only EP entitled Anybody. It is only available via ITunes and includes the three tracks "All In Throws" (which sounds like a bit of a throwback to the One Bedroom record), "Breathless" and "Mis." The Sea And Cake released its most recent full-length Everybody May 8; we reviewed it here. Buy Anybody from ITunes here.

>> Interesting feature here in the Boston Globe about the founder of '90s indie label Pop Narcotic, a Boston-based label that issued a number of important releases including the first Helium single and the excellent double 10" Why Do You Think They Call It Pop? Nowadays Pop Narcotic's Bill Peregoy runs a yoga studio, which recently launched a new class that eschews the more stereotypical yoga class soundtrack music in favor of indie rock. If this happened in our neighborhood we'd definitely check it out -- since we already listen to music all day we might as well try yoga while doing some listening.

>> A well-written if run-of-the-mill overview of the current state of the traditional music industry in the New York Times here. Nicely assimilates a lot of news pegs (releases from Paul McCartney and that 50 Cent fellow, mergers and acquisitions amongst major labels and music publishers). Not a crucial read, but if this is the sort of thing you don't follow day-to-day, it links a lot of occurrences together to give a decent picture of the state of things. Likewise, you should probably read this interview of HypeMachine's Anthony Volodkin over at Wired. It might not make a lot of sense if you don't know what HypeMachine is, but if you do it is pretty interesting. The most fascinating thing to us is that Mr. Volodkin is so darn young. We wish we were half as clever when we were his age... in 1995.

>> The Ian Curtis biopic "Control" won best European film at the Cannes Film Festival. NME has the details. Pitchfork recently posted the trailer, which got us a little excited and a little disappointed at the same time. Watch it at YouTube here.

That Was The Show That Was: The Mendoza Line | Lizard Lounge

It may be a coincidence that -- only weeks after disclosing that his marriage to and musical partnership with a longtime bandmate had folded -- The Mendoza Line's Tim Bracy decided to open Thursday night's show with "Catch A Collapsing Star." Or it may not.

Historically, The Mendoza Line has touted as many as three singer-songwriters. Smooth-voiced and melodically gifted founding member Peter Hoffman left the fold a couple albums back after contributing his share of great tunes. Singer-songwriter Shannon McArdle joined the band several years after it formed and it was recently disclosed that she and Mr. Bracy have split, a dramatic departure that leaves the future of this pile of rock 'n' roll things called The Mendoza Line in question.

The metaphor of a collapsing star seems apt for pretty much the whole of the existence of the now defiantly traditional band, as tales of intra-band tumult, departures and serial lineup changes have proved to be a constant product of the band just existing. Miraculously, the rag-tag bunch of indie rockers has created a formidable and ample catalog over the last decade. That catalog will expand by one or two more titles in August, depending on how you count, when Bracy & Co. issue the mini-album 30 Year Low and an attendant collection of outtakes and rarities. Not that The Mendoza Line needs a reason, but it's unclear to us why all of a sudden it scheduled four dates to tease a release three months off. But we'll take it, especially given how surprisingly vital the performance was.

While we've seen an uneven Mendoza Line show or two over the years, last night's set was rock solid, as Bracy hollered and drawled his way through nine feverish rockers with the assistance of his able supporting players. In the wake of the news of McArdle's exit from the band, we wondered who would actually be in The Mendoza Line when the act hit town last night. Presumably Mr. Bracy would show, and he obliged. With him were recognizable, amiable and able guitarists Clint Newman and John Troutman, a fellow named Adam Gold on drums and a young woman on keys named Beth Nelson. And of course there was a bassist -- we'll get to him in a moment.

Prior to the show it might have seemed counterintuitive, given the flux of things Mendoza Line, to predict that the set would be the best Mendoza Line show of the handful we've seen. And yet Bracy and his henchpersons make for a no-nonsense and hale live unit. It is just like the Mendoza Line to snatch triumph from the jaws of farce (or vice versa) and turn in a vivid and tight show just when you thought you were going to get a scratchy train wreck on kinescope.

The set opened with a smoldering take on the aforementioned "Catch A Collapsing Star," and then chugged through many highlights of the last half-decade or so of Bracy's tunes. It was a bit jarring to hear Bracy sing parts previously sung by Ms. McArdle, particularly on the new track "Aspect of An Old Maid," which features traded lines of tightly packed lyrics about a relationship that is taking on water, fast. Mr. Newman's articulate guitar playing proved a dynamic foil to Bracy's chord-crushing acoustic guitar strumming, and Mr. Troutman's slippery licks at the pedal steel infused tunes with substantial color. This was particularly the case with the new (we think) number "Now/Never/Later," during which the slow tremolo of Troutman's pedal steel caused the whole of the understated and beautiful song to throb in the basement nightclub [EDIT: Eagle-eared Mendoza Line fan The Good Doctor tells us this track is actually from the sole Slow Dazzle record, The View From The Floor. Our bad]. We were particularly gratified that the band played "Road To Insolvency," a favorite of ours.

And now an extended aside: A big surprise for us came as we approached the band's van behind the club before the set to discover that our old friend Clark Wallace was playing bass on this current slate of dates. This blew our mind, and it remains somewhat blown today. Imagine going out to see one of your favorite bands and discovering that your old friend is playing with the band that night. Wild, right. Mr. Wallace, a multi-instrumentalist and fine songwriter in his own right, acquitted himself very nicely while filling the shoes of longtime Mendoza Line bassist (and mustachioed crowd favorite) Paul Deppler.

The four-date Mendoza Line tour closes out this evening in Providence, Rhode Island. 30 Year Low and its companion piece Final Remarks Of The Legendary Malcontent will be released Aug. 21. We look forward to more live shows then. We shot some pictures last night, and you can have a look at them at this link. And below are MP3s of two cuts the band played last night (alas, there was no "Name Names" or "Rat's Alley"... oh well).

The Mendoza Line -- "Catch A Collapsing Star" -- Full Of Light And Full Of Fire
The Mendoza Line -- "Aspect Of An Old Maid (Alt. Version)" -- 30 Year Low
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The Mendoza Line: InterWeb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Here is the set list as it was to have been performed. We noticed that "Settle Down, Zelda" was moved up in the order, and Clark told us that one of the tracks -- we're not certain which -- was dropped from the set on the fly.

Catch A Collapsing Star
Fellow Travelers
Aspect Of An Old Maid
Love On Parole
I Lost My Taste
It's A Long Line (But It Moves Quickly)
Settle Down, Zelda
Road To Insolvency
Now Or Never Or Later
Sweetheart

Review: Karl Hendricks Rock Band | The World Says

Karl Hendricks' latest collection is remarkable for its looseness. Although Mr. Hendricks has always displayed a sense of humor on the records of his eponymous trio, relaxed is not the first adjective that likely comes to mind for those of us who came of age listening to his tales of those broken by love. However, there has been a perceptible change in attitude on Hendricks' recordings since the late '90s. With a new combo christened The Karl Hendricks Rock Band and with the release of The World Says, our hero's outlook still seems resigned but also almost content -- and downright sunny in comparison to feel-bad numbers from his back catalog such as "Your Damned Impertinence."

And so, miraculously, Hendricks has transformed from a guy making visceral break-up songs into a reliable purveyor of summery (albeit still occasionally melancholy) rock jams. Along the way he shed most if not all of the anger that featured in his mid-'90s catalog, but none of his musical ability to land an emotional punch. What is left on The World Says -- Hendricks' eleventh full-length if you count a few cassettes we're not familiar with -- is fortified with unobfuscated charm and world-weary humor ("I'm Not Crying Karl," "The Last Uncompromising Hardcore Band").

As opposed to the tightly composed downer-ballads and sonic assaults of Hendricks' bygone days, The World Says showcases loose, crunching rockers packing plenty of big guitars. Behold the twisting, fuzzy and Television-like riffs in the denoument of the aforementioned "I'm Not Crying Karl." The rocker "Irony Fails Me" recalls "Nogales By Tuesday" from the excellent 1996 set For A While, It Was Funny (a record that memorably opens with the lyric "Are you naked and high on drugs?"). And even these days, after almost two decades recording indie rock records, the stuff of relationships remains on Hendricks' mind, as evidenced by the yearning album highlight "Banned For Life."

The tone of the new record, recorded in the band's practice space, is noticeably influenced by the lyrical playing of new second guitarist Alexei Plotnicov, to whom Hendricks ascribes adjectives including "Allman-esque" -- surprisingly, in a number of places that characterization is very on point. Plotnicov adds significant weight and riffage to "Mediocre Advice," a number that wouldn't sound out of place on one of those mid-'90s, Dinosaur Jr. records. Of course, a Karl Hendricks record would not be a Karl Hendricks record without an epic-length track or two, such as the aforementioned "Your Damned Impertinence" from 1995's A Gesture of Kindness or the amazing "The Summer Of Warm Beer" from 2003's The Jerks Win Again [which we reviewed here for Junkmedia]. On The World Says, Hendricks obliges with the mind-numbingly good, Neil Young and Crazy Horse-tinged rockathon "California In October."

According to Hendricks, there are no current plans to tour to support the release of The World Says. The album was issued April 30 on Surplus Anxiety, and you can buy it right here from Midheaven Mailorder. As a bit of inducement, here are a couple streams.



Karl Hendricks Rock Band: InterWeb | MySpace | YouTube | Flickr

Today's Hotness: Mendoza Line, A-Sides, Spoon, Fields

>> The biggest surprise of the day was news that indie rock journeypersons The Mendoza Line are playing several shows this week; we've posted all four of the dates below. Needless to say we'll be seeing the show. But given the recent tumult within the band [which we noted here], we're not sure who we'll be seeing besides guitarist and singer Tim Bracy. We are excited to see a set of all Bracy compositions -- his songs have always been our favorites of those penned by three songwriters (although Peter Hoffman's "Baby, I Know What You're Thinking" is also a favorite). What's left of the Mendoza Line in the wake of Bracy's split with singer-songwriter Shannon McArdle will release Aug. 21 the mini-album 30 Year Low along with a companion disc The Final Remarks Of The Legendary Malcontent. In all there's 26 tracks of new tunes, covers and alternative takes. We're excited to hear it. Here are those tour dates:

05.22 -- Philadelphia PA -- World Cafe Live
05.23 -- Hoboken NJ -- Maxwell's
05.24 -- Boston MA -- Lizard Lounge
05.25 -- Providence RI -- AS220

>> Well, they hinted about it early in the day here, and then Philebrity broke the news here at the end of the day. All of which means that the A-Sides have finally disclosed that they have signed to Vagrant, which we first posted here in January after seeing the news at HerJazz. Anyway, the band has several shows booked in the near future, and its long-awaited sophomore set Silver Storms will be released Aug. 28.

06.20 –- Dark Horse Tavern -- State College, PA
06.22 –- Schuba’s Tavern -- Chicago, IL
06.23 –- Continental Block Party -- Chicago, IL
07.20 –- Xponential Music Festival -- Camden, NJ

>> That piano riff in the recently available-ized and awesome Spoon tune "The Ghost Of You Lingers" really reminds us of that Billy Joel hit "Pressure." Just sayin'. So obviously the Spoon record leaked -- so why can't we pre-order it? We'd buy this record five times -- it is our favorite Spoon record of them all. There's something about the skeletal tunes made bombastic with rich Motown-ish production that makes every song a victory. In all the glorious melodicism we even hear shades of E.L.O., who we've been talking about much too much lately. And the tune "The Underdog" sounds a bit like Thin Lizzy, no?

>> Notable Western Mass-based indie trio The Mitchells are on tour. We caught their show at the end of March and reviewed it here, and we reviewed their latest record Slow Gears here. Definitely worth checking out.

05.22 -- The Cake Shop -- New York, NY
05.23 -- The Brighton Bar -- Long Branch, NJ
05.24 -- The Reservoir -- Carrboro, North Carolina
05.26 -- Valentines -- Albany, NY
05.27 -- Great Scott -- Allston, MA
06.01 -- The Elevens -- Northampton, MA
06.29 -- Paper City Brewery -- Holyoke, MA

>> There's something about the animated figures in Fields new animated video for the revamped version of "Song For The Fields" that makes us think of the animated dood in the videos for Judas Priest's "Locked In" and "Turbo Lover." Check 'em out.

>> Our new favorite podcast? Keep Hope Inside. We like how the host explains where towns are situated in the UK when referring to them, because our knowledge of the geography over there is virtually non-existent. Here's the Keep Hope Inside blog where there's information to get all set up with the podcast.

That Was The Show That Was: E.R. | TT The Bear's 5.17.2007

As the hurriedly scribbled notes (well, arrows, exclamation points and one star) we appended to the set list at left attest, we were pretty jazzed by the E.R. And The New Jerseys set during last week's Midriff Records showcase at TT's. One of the reasons we were so won over was that the performance surpassed our expectations. We had seen E.R. only six weeks earlier, and thought they played a strong set [read our review here]. And yet Thursday's performance was remarkably better; it honestly gave us pause as we left the club and made us wonder why some bands have nights that are good, and some that are sublime.

Certainly the sound at TT's is superior to the more ad hoc sound system over at PA's Lounge. But that's only part of the story. The quartet's energy level was high, and while E.R.'s supporting players The New Jerseys (a/k/a The Spanish Armada) are typically somewhat reserved, the three delivered particularly fervent performances themselves. Drummer Dan Parlin systematically brutalized his drum kit, rarely looking up from the, ahem, beatings he administered to its various components; bassist Bill Scales was tapped into a serious Entwhistle vibe -- maybe its just the beard? -- and knocked out melodic bass parts with counter-melodies we don't recall hearing on the band's recent debut This Conspiracy Against Us; guitarist Greg Lyons effortlessly coaxed spot-on feedback, slicing leads and gripping backing vocals.

The biggest surprise of the night was E.R.'s encore. What is noted neutrally at left as simply "Ministry" was actually a Ministry cover, namely the band's popular industrial screamer "Stigmata." Needless to say, this was insane. Kehoe man-handled the track's merciless beat, with its tell-tale stuttering rhythm giving away what was about to happen for those of us who weathered a de rigeur industrial phase at the turn of the '90s. And Mr. Rodriguez's usual bassy howl didn't need much embellishment to push it into Al Jourgensen's range.

Despite that surprise, based on the star (and of course the exclamation points) we jotted on the set list, you can see we thought the tune "Why I Fear The Ocean" was the short set's emotional apex (we expect the title on the set list "hydro" is short for hydrophobia). On This Conspiracy Against Us the track is a study in texture and production techniques. Stripped of the swirling guitar tracks, damaged angel backing vocals and violins, the track is a barn burner when performed live.

E.R.'s This Conspiracy Against Us was issued Feb. 27 on Midriff; we reviewed it here. Here's the video for Ministry's "Stigmata," posted over at YouTube. And since we've sort of opened the door on Ministry news with this item, we should note that the storied industrial act will release in July a new set entitled Rio Grande Dub, which we think is remixes of the band's 2006 set Rio Grande Blood. Anyway, here are some E.R. tracks:

E.R. -- "Stillborn In New Jersey" -- This Conspiracy Against Us
E.R. -- "You Get What You Want" -- This Conspiracy Against Us
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[buy This Conspiracy Against Us from Midriff here]