more Monday mailbox melange ….. (yeah, I know it’s Tuesday, whatever)

I wrote all this up on Monday, so just hush and let me have my alliteration, ok?! Now buckle in and get ready for some new stuff, I tried to hit you hard and then ease up as we go along.

The Choke have hit me up via email a few times and I’ve loved their song, “Tuff Kids” so it’s high time I give it to ya! They have toured with the Buzzcocks, (who are coming to Chicago on May 23!) and well, that’s just more than good enough for me.
Tuff Kids by The Choke

Tour Dates
Apr 8 2010 10:00P The Comet Cincinnati, Ohio
Apr 9 2010 10:00P Third Street Dive Louisville, Kentucky
Apr 10 2010 10:00P THE MILESTONE w/ Babyshaker! Charlotte, North Carolina

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Fante’s Last Stand mp3 King Post Kitsch…. go get it here

This fellow Charlie found me by way of Lloyd, a.k.a. Peenko (a wonderful blogger, go to his site now!) and Charlie records under the name King Post Kitsch. He’s got three songs up as a nice, self-titled, EP over on bandcamp.com which tickle your ears a bit in a nice, Scottish, not-so-twee-but-comfy way. You know, talented people try to goof off and act as if they’re not very good at doing things and they knock around on the piano and create discord and add sound effects to try and muck things up, but we’re on to them. I like the weird and wonderful, especially when people like King Post Kitsch mix a distorted guitar and a sweetly sung tune just right, as he does on “Fante’s Last Stand.” And I’m blatantly stealing this from his website because it’s fun and it makes you want to know this Charlie person and listen to his music, if you’ve got any sense of fun at all:

SEVEN THINGS YOU PROBABLY DONT CARE ABOUT KING POST KITSCH
1- He’s formerly of the Glasgow parish
2- Can sometimes be found in London
3- Likes Leonard Rossiter, Rod Steiger and fifty-sevens
4- Doesn’t quite have a band but is working on it
5- Despite this he likes to play live
6- He’s probably working on new material
7- Despite this lapse he still doesn’t think biographies should be written in third-person narrative.

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Sing & Dance mp3 Ariel Views Brad Senne …. buy it

photo credit: Darin Back

Coming out today is an album by Brad Senne, Ariel Views, which is just a really mellow, beautifully written, singer-songwriter, folk collection. You might remember the name; he was in the hardcore band, Picturesque in the late 90s. I’m smiling to myself about that because of a conversation I had with Geert of Black Atlantic, who is also from a hardcore band from the late 90s, Shai Hulud. Yeah, musicians are inherently flexible, I don’t know why that surprises those of us who don’t play. People find a way to express themselves and it takes different forms. It’s not like I can’t write about music and also about sociological theory

Tour Dates
Apr 23 2010 8:00P Pizza Luce – Holy Crap!!! What a show. w/ Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank and The Duluth, Minnesota
Apr 24 2010 4:00P Owens Park – Earth Day in Eau Claire Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Apr 29 2010 7:00P 318 Cafe – Rockin Excelsior! w/ Dave Olson Excelsior, Minnesota
May 7 2010 9:00P Turf Club – Too hot to handle! w/ Martin Devaney (full band) and Roma di Luna Saint Paul, Minnesota
May 13 2010 9:00P Lee’s Liquor Lounge – The cleanest dive bar around w/ Jezebel Jones Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jul 16 2010 10:00P Fitgers Brewhouse – Come for the music, stay for the beer Duluth, Minnesota

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Acoustic mp3 Music Box Dark Mean…. get it here

And last but sooooo not least!! Dark Mean, who I posted on I thought I posted on ages ago when they released their EP Frankencottage. Sorry guys, really thought I had reviewed that!! Well, they’re back with a really sweet EP for 2010, Music Box. These Canadians push a small amount of drama into these songs, enough to give them some maturity. The saxophone and piano parts are an equal match for this singer’s voice and used just as judiciously. It’s the music that leads it, not the words and I find myself listening for that, to that, much more these days. Do you? xoxo