The Soundtrack of Our Lives are coming to Chicago and I’ve been soaking them in all weekend. What a trip it’s been. Yeah, Communion, their latest double album was released in 2008, but I never got to it until now. And you know me, I love this hook-laden, rock-n-roll, heavy-bass, guitar-driven kind of music. It’s quite the contrast to The Black Atlantic, the other thing that’s been feeding my ears, I’ll tell you that! And it’s been a welcome contrast. I’m stoked to see them play live.

They’re ending their US tour right here in Chicago at Lincoln Hall with Nico Vega. I’ll be giving you the story, don’t worry, xoxo (it’s a Jam Productions show and therefore sold by Ticketmaster, which as you know, I think is the Devil Incarnate, so I’m sorry that link for Lincoln Hall takes you to them!)

buy their albums here

US Tour Dates
Feb 16th – Irving Plaza – New York, NY
Feb 17th – The Note – Philadelphia, PA
Feb 18th – House Of Sweden – Washington, DC
Feb 18th – Black Cat – Washington, DC
Feb 19th – The Warehouse Live – Houston, TX
Feb 20th – Emo’s – Austin, TX
Feb 21st – The Granada – Dallas, TX
Feb 23rd – The Rialto – Tucson, AZ
Feb 24th – The Casbah – San Diego, CA
Feb 25th – Glasshouse – Pomona, CA
Feb 26th – El Rey – Los Angeles, CA
Feb 27th – The Independent – San Francisco, CA
Feb 28th – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL

Gas Tank mp3 Truckstop Coffee For Dear Life

[This is the third in a series of guest reviews by my good friend Puppet Show, who has thankfully given in to my begging and agreed to help me out. News of this band came to me from the awesome blog, ninebullets.net and I sent Pup this album for review. Needless to say, he took to it like a pig to shit. I had a feeling he would, it's a great record and one that I completely recommend for your last minute holiday shopping! xoxo]

When it comes to music I can be rather fickle as Tart can attest to. I have to like the music I see, if I don’t, then I won’t listen to it. Yes you read that correctly, I have to like the music I see. That might seem unusual to some people but it is something that I think I have grown up with, a sense of vision in the music I listen to. If I can’t envision a song, or the sounds can’t take me to a place that I have never been before in my head, then I probably won’t like it. How many vanilla wrappers do you want to see before the vanilla wrappers get boring.

Take Truckstop Coffee, not only is it a name with a visual behind it, but it pretty much takes you to where the music begins, with a cup of truck stop Coffee. This rock four piece out of Lake Worth, Florida has a knack for telling stories. Every song I listened to was devoid of fluff or filler, and it took me somewhere. The sound is an old friend and drinking buddy at an old watering hole where you would sit, drink whiskey, and talk.

For Dear Life is 12 stories of life experiences that you may have never lived but after listening to this album you will think like you did. “Gas Tank,” a favorite of mine, is a song about trying to escape. “And your friends they’re all your biggest fans, except when they’re pouring sugar in your gas tank” These lyrics took me back to a time in my life when all I had was the desire to escape where I came from. But everyone I knew cheered me on and held me back, I love that song now. “Mrs.Grady” is an absolutely somber song of war, but the way it is played and sung, I feel like I am there. Truckstop Coffee has an uncanny way of bringing you into their music in a way that you don’t want to leave, each song makes me want the next and the next. For Dear Life is an array of mini stories written on a master level.

This band is a bottle of bourbon as I look out on the Blue Ridge mountains from my back porch. It’s what good, old music should be: raw stripped down and able to take you somewhere in your head as you listen. This sophomore album, For Dear Life, has made my Top 3 for 2009. Go listen, and see what I mean.

Tour Details
Jan 8 2010 9:00P Orlando Brewing Co – PETE SOLO Orlando, Florida
Jan 15 2010 9:00P Propaganda w/ The Most Beautiful Losers, Matt Woods Lake Worth, Florida
Jan 16 2010 9:00P New World Brewery w/ Will Quinlan, The Most Beautiful Losers, and Matt Woods Ybor City, FL
Jan 17 2010 9:00P Will’s Pub w/ Thomas Wynn, Most Beautiful Losers, Matt Woods Orlando, Florida
Jan 21 2010 8:00P Bodega Blue – Pete Solo Vero Beach, Florida
Jan 23 2010 8:00P 4620 Reinvented w/ Matt Woods, The Most Beautiful Losers Knoxville, Tennessee
Jan 27 2010 8:00P P&H Cafe Memphis, Tennessee
Jan 29 2010 9:30P Live Wire Savannah, Georgia
Jan 30 2010 8:00P The Atlantic w/ Ninja Gun Gainesville, Florida
Feb 14 2010 8:00P Sadie Rene’s w/ The Most Beautful Losers, Gunt Punchers, Matt Woods Canton, Ohio

November 10th was the day, my darlings, when Apse revealed Climb Up, described to me to be their most intimate and yet accessible work to date. Melodic, with more emphasis on electronica, I’m listening to it now and yeah, I have to agree. It’s taken critics a bit off guard. Not that anyone has written off this band… no. But I’m not sure people realized just exactly what they were up to, holed up as they were in New England for much of 2008.

Climb Up starts out with “Blown Doors,”  a rhythmic, heavy-bass line, balanced by delicate vocals track which won me over instantly. I love it so much I’ve included it on a certain year-end mix tape which will appear on these pages soon. It’s hurried, breathless, whirling. And from that point on, Climb Up continues to please with lots of electronic organ notes to compliment Bobby’s insistent vocals. Lyrically, songs like “Rook” drive the phrase “I’m losing my mind over you” into my head, a phrase which is only bettered by the buzzing, desperate melody. There’s a similar element in A Place To Bury Stranger ’s Exploding Heads, a common, hungry, insistence. And halfway through, at “The Age” when the urging is peaked at a frenzied scale, Apse inserts this brilliant, gem of a song, “Tropica.” It’s perfect for holding the place it does on the album and reveals the thought that went into this project. Industrial-like percussion sounds stream out of my speakers, completely breaking the mood so that I find myself taking a long, deep breath for what seems like the first time since I turned this record on. That’s a very good thing; there’s five more songs to go. Step over here to see the new video they have for “3.1″

What follows are brilliant tracks that incorporate everything from rather rock-operatic effects in “Lie” to decidedly the swan-song feelings of the title track, “Climb Up.” But it’s the “The Whip” that thrills me the most, with it’s driving melody,  like a sister song to “Blown Doors.” This record is good from start to finish. I’ve listened to it at least twenty times in the past month and I expect to use songs from it in a mix tape or two. We can only hope that they will bring this to a US tour, this is a band that is just now coming out of a bit of a long, self-imposed exile. Tour dates are just beginning to emerge and as I write this, Apse are completing the 10 Years Of ATP Festival in Minehead, UK. I can not wait to hear this live. Do not miss it when they come near you, xoxo

Dec 15 2009 8:00P Stuk Leuven Leuven, BE
Dec 16 2009 8:00P De Kreun Kortrijk, BE
Dec 17 2009 8:00P Vera Groningen, NL
Dec 18 2009 8:00P Ekko Utrecht, NL
Dec 19 2009 8:00P Borderline London

Saturday, November 21st at the Avalon in Hollywood the Pablove Foundation and Dreamworks Studios present a night of ACOUSTIC sets. This ALL AGES showcase will feature exclusive performances from artists including: Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Tom Gabel (Against Me!), Shirley Manson, Butch Walker, Jarrod Gorbel (The Honorary Title), Charlotte Martin plus a Very Special Guest to be announced soon.

All proceeds from the gathering will directly benefit the Pablove Foundation, a non for profit organization that raises awareness about childhood cancers.

***Tickets go on sale this Saturday, October 31st at 10 AM via Ticketmaster***

Yes, this is not the most appropriate song for a chidhood cancer benefit show but it’s my favorite track off of the new Black Rebel Motorcycle Club Live album (which I tortured my poor ear with tonight for you, my darlings!, yes still ringing!) I think you’ll agree that the tinnitus was worth it once you hear Spread Your Love (live) mp3 but do let me know your thoughts, as always!

Pre-order Black Motorcycle Club Live, a 2 DVD/1CD package right here, from the band direct, and get two bonus tracks and immediate digital download.

Turns out I’m pretty indie afterall. I know you’re breathing a sigh of relief, having feared for my fragile, dark, and twisted soul. But in the end, those damn guitarists won me over and drew me out of the shade and away from the comfort of the ice cream stall. I turned up in time to see Sybris, a band that I’m sorry to say, I’ve never heard before. Where the hell have I been? I should have been listening to this band for the past six years they’ve been together, they are soooo up my alley! They meandered up to the front of the stage, looking unimportant and unassuming as most indie bands are wont to do. But the moment Angela Mullenhour opened her mouth wide to sing it was all over for me. This was no wilting, little, waif of an indie girl who would cozy up to the chords of her guitar-heavy, drum-pummeling,  male bandmates. Angela Mullenhour takes her expansive voice and wraps it right around that shoegazy/metal drone of sound. She carries her own quite well on guitar too. Listening to ”The Best Day In History In Ever” now, in it’s recorded form gives only a hint of what this band is capable.

But it does give you a very good idea of how this is a band and not a girl and her backup players.  You know how I go on about guitarists, and partly that’s true, they are fucking sexy as fuck. But the rest of the story is simply that standing there, in the midst of someone, anyone, playing an instrument who’s completely skilled at what they’re doing and can make it do exactly what they want, is a tremendously intoxicating experience. This band is a group of four people who work this out somehow on a regular basis and have been for quite a while now. The music builds and crashes and stalls and as you’re holding your breath, waiting for Eric Mahle to bring his sticks down hard on the drums, Angela sings exactly what you expect.  Go buy Sybris’ album, Into The Trees. I don’t know how I missed it last year, I hope you didn’t!

Needless to say, Shawn Podgurski on bass and Phil Naumann on guitar masterfully provided the high this junkie needed on Saturday. Their final song ended with a huge surge of reverberation and clash of cymbals which stretched out mercilessly into the heat of the afternoon’s haze. Phil’s last swing of his guitar, near the amp, bounced the sound back and forth, and then reduced it to just a low buzz as he lay it down gently on the stage, which he finally killed off with a few, teasing twists of the knobs on his amp. That perfect little flourish of showmanship made my day, as I watched him saunter off, pretending none of that was really intentional after all. Indie bands just never take a bow, do they?

Later in the evening, as it cooled a bit at last, Tapes ‘n Tapes took the stage. I had been waiting for this, I bought the tickets just for this act. And they did not disappoint, not one little bit. They were a whole lot of what Sybris were not: quirky, fast, clean, and sharp. There was no resonating sound here, no drawing out of long notes. “Hang Them All” sounded great. All the songs they squeezed into their 40 minute set were really high-energy pop. And a new song was unveiled, after much fiddling with a bright, shiny, red guitar and some inane self-mocking stage banter. If that was any indication of what the new Tapes ‘n Tapes album holds, we are in for a real treat, darlings! Go check out their MySpace for all the great press quotes and sound bites and videos. This band is well covered by bloggers and music journalists in general, and deservedly so. They also have a pretty amazing YouTube page, so feast your eyes there. Pop over to their site to buy their latest album, Walk It Off, and support them. It was a perfect day of indie endurance testing, all in all. I’m proud to have beat the urban August summer’s heat to have heard two wonderfully different but equally amazing bands, (as well as the others not mentioned here who were very good!) xoxo

Denny Dingus, the lead guitarist of One Hundred Hurricanes,  and I have been exchanging emails for awhile, trying to get our ducks in a row, so as I could review Sixty Years Under The Stars for you. Honestly, I’m loving the sound of this so much I can’t stop listening to it. It’s got the rawness of a good garage band and yet the intricacy of something much more accomplished than that. The way Denny’s guitar plays off bass and drum in what is often a counter-melodic manner, is just jaw-droppingly beautiful in “One More Try,” ”Be That Way” and the title track, “Sixty Years Under the Stars.” Add to that mix a very talented and energetic bassist, Kyle Williams, who not only invents interesting bass lines but also provides an awesome solo intro to “Walking Away,” one of the best songs on the album for both guitar solos and soulful vocals. This quartet from Morgantown, WV has at it’s helm Michael Withrow, who, when he lets it really go, has a breaking point that turns the whole thing from fun to tragic in a heartbeat. You sense just enough of the South in him to keep that post-punk attitude out of whack. Drummer Nick Kirk doesn’t keep predictable time, (with self-professed heroes ranging from Mötley Crüe to Tears For Fears we’d expect no less) and I can imagine no other type of percussionist filling that seat for this band. He’s neither too flashy nor too understated for Micheal’s sometimes bombastic voice and those perfectly over the top guitar solos Denny does. And the man really knows when to use the cymbals.

One Hundred Hurricanes hopes they can be “strikingly catchy” but I reckon they’ve overshot that by a mile or two into the “shockingly good” realm. With 15 tracks, Sixty Years Under the Stars gives plenty of time (and variety)  for you to consider if this band has what it takes to go on the road and win over a crowd. I rarely feature a group on these pages who’s not already got a booked tour to promote. For one, it’s a simple way of weeding out the requests I get. But more importantly, I want LSB to be about supporting music and musicians who are actively making music, so posting tour dates is a serious thing here. I mean it – go out there and see them, buy a damn ticket, I do. I’ll be honest with you; I get into some shows for free because of what I do here, helping promote bands. But I pay for as many or more shows as I get comped for. And I will continue to keep that in balance, it’s important to me. So, the whole point of this little lecture is this: One Hundred Hurricanes doesn’t currently have any but a few tour dates. They most certainly should. On the evidence of this album, they would win over a crowd in cities across the US. In a word, I am bowled over by Sixty Years Under The Stars. Get this band out to your city and into your favorite club. But first, pick up a copy of their debut record here.

Here they are covering the Smashing Pumpkins, “We Only Come Out At Night”

Tour Dates
Sep 14*Chop Suey*Seattle
Sep 15*Troubadour*West Hollywood
Sep 16*The Echo*Los Angeles
Sep 17*Popscene*San Francisco
Sep 20*Kungfu Necktie*Philadelphia
Sep 21*Bowery Ballroom*New York
Sep 22*The Bell House*New York

You see, the reason I had forgotten about this album; the reason I had in the back of my mind that maybe it wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, was that the hidden gem of the album is track #4. I kinda have this unspoken rule here at Chez Tart to not criticize a band unless they’re really very established and popular and can afford to take it, (hence my recent appointment of Art Brut as current whipping boy band.) But this is a mistake that so many bands unknowingly make that I’m going to use Super 400 as an example, sorry guys! Here’s the thing, you really need to put the killer tracks at #1, #2, and especially #3. Sweet Fist starts out with “Needle Down” and I find that to be a great song to get ya going. Kenny Hohman has a true rock n roll voice, and he puts it to perfect use on this track’s lyrics. He uses just enough whine, drawing out the notes at the end of the phrase just enough to remind you of the master vocalists of the seventies without mimicking them. Like other songs on the album, “Needle Down” changes tempo a few times, but it does so with smooth transitions and a nice build to the end. Track #2 is good, but it doesn’t hold my attention as much as the first and track #3 is a grower. I love “FFMN” (Fear Forget My Name) on the fourth or fifth listen, it’s got an amazingly funky hook to it but it wasn’t my favorite song at first. So there, I had three songs that were great to ok. I totally forgot about track #4 which had blown me out of the water when I first heard it on their website. Damn! Most people will give a band three songs before turning a record off or leaving a bar. It’s wicked-cruel, but ask a blogger or a critic and they’ll pretty much tell you the same thing. I’m sorry we’re so mean, honest I am.

Yesterday I played the whole album through again and realized my mistake. I also dug around and saw that “Flashlight”, track #4 was the single released for Sweet Fist and was also in production for the soon-to-be-released video. It’s a great song featuring bass player, Lori Friday on lead vocals. Hearing it puts the rest of the album in perspective. I could give you ten bands from the past 30 years that I hear reflected in the music of Super 400 and that is certainly not a criticism. They’ve learned from their heroes and carefully woven together something that echos the best sounds of rock’s heritage.  “Sand Hill,” and another favorite of mine, “I Thought It Was The End” show the depth and versatility of this seasoned band. Intricate guitar work coupled with the ability to just hunker down and really rock it when necessary makes Super 400 the kind of band that music lovers of different genres will find appealing. Hearing this album now makes me really want to see them live, and darlings that’s the whole point now isn’t it? So, don’t read this review as a back-handed compliment. It’s not at all. Super 400 is a very talented band with a great following already and when they hit the road to give you this album you will really miss out if you don’t come out and support them, they are gonna really impress you, live! Pre-order Sweet Fist here.

Tour Details (more dates added soon)
Aug 6 2009 7:00P Market Block Party Syracuse, New York
Aug 7 2009 9:00P The Electric Company Utica, New York
Aug 21 2009 8:00P Mexicali Blues Cafe Teaneck, New Jersey
Aug 22 2009 8:00P Wheeliefest 11 Rowland, Pennsylvania
Sep 11 2009 9:00P Revolution Hall ALBUM RELEASE PARTY Troy, New York
Oct 9 2009 10:00P Ralph’s Diner Worcester, Massachusetts

“What I did over my Summer Vacation – A Musical Interlude: Opus I”

We all have summer vacations that as kids we remember into our adulthood, there are a lot of things that can trigger those memories. Some of us are blessed to live in an area where there are many things to do and not far to go, while others have to travel a good amount of distance to get to where we’re going. I have a little of everything going my way; my family owns a cabin on Lake Huron in Michigan. The nice thing about it is that we go every year with basic out of pocket expenses being groceries and gas. Good news is, buying 2 weeks worth of groceries is cheap, bad news is, I no longer live in Michigan and the road trip to the cabin has gone from 3 hours to 15 hours; still, it’s worth every hour behind the wheel.

Now, the interesting thing about the area is TV signals are nonexistent, and with the new DTV mandate the old TV airwaves that you used to get at 10 at night are gone. I actually prefer no TV in a beach cabin as to me it’s useless anyway, you’re on the beach all day. With no TV we MANDITORILY turn on the local radio station (which will be locked in for the duration of the trip): the wondrous WLEW FM Cruise 102.1 out of Bad Axe, Michigan. I so love this station, as it plays the same thing EVERY year. I kid you not, the sampling is awash of who was who and begs of nostalgic toys that you lost as a kid. A sampling of an average day: Ted Nugent’s Fred Bear(well he is the motor city madman), Journey: any album pre-Raised on Radio, Styx:  any song off Paradise Theatre, Ugly Kid Joe’s  Cats in the Cradle, Eddie Money’s “Shaking,” 38 Special’s  “Fear the Reaper,” Carly Simon, Cher, KISS’ “Beth,” Rod Stewart’s “Hot Legs,” Duran Duran, Kid Rock, ELO, Cheap Trick, this was a Wednesday sampling of stuff I remembered to jot down,… incredible.

The best thing about the station, (I have no idea if it is in it’s charter), is that it is forced to play these two songs at least once every day; Gordon Lightfoot’s Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and Steve Earle’s Copperhead Road Now I know the good ol’ Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is a great song, and I actually look forward to hearing it and in the evening as I watch the ships on the horizon in the shipping channel, I may hum a few bars to myself. As I hummed I would think, as I looked out over the Huron lake… why am I hearing this song about a ship on Lake Superior sung by a Canadian? But, I Digress… My biggest snap back to reality was when I heard Empire of the Sun’s Walking on A Dream I was immediately taken back to a track that Tart directed me to months prior that I played on an almost regular basis… to now be hearing it on the station I listen to during my summer vacation… that rocked.

Let’s return to the cabin now for the humorous side of my musical vacation, excuse the set up, it is long but well worth it. As long as I can remember we have enjoyed (I use that term loosely) rental cabins to the one side of our property. Typically there is rarely an issue, but from time to time I may nicely let a renter know that the dunes they are on, or the beach they are using, is ours and please use the rental property to the side. Mostly you will receive a “sorry” or “no problem”… but there’s always that one group. To make a long story short my sister ran into trouble with a (drunken) group (family) that just seemed to want to cross that line and cause trouble, they are regulars at this rental property, and lucky me I got to meet that group this year. The family appeared to be mid to late 30’s parents with a wannabe stud McMuffin who was whipped and beaten down (nagged) by his aspiring MILF failed-stripper wife (more on that later). Kids ranged from 8 to 12 years of age, and their 300lbs 5’8” Uncle (Insert Fiddle About joke a la Tommy here).

As you can imagine, all sorts use the rentals, units are decent and mixed in too, (about 20 units placed throughout a 2 acre lot leading to a beach) as I said the “family” didn’t take to kindly to the notion of private property vs. public access vs. rental property last year, and for lack of a better term were complete asses. Me being 6’6” and well into the 270lbs area, I can appear intimidating, so I am not sure why, but they didn’t want to seem to cross said barrier to cause havoc this year. They instead decided to nuisance us… so how do you nuisance someone, well it’s quite funny actually. You get your portable “boom” box and get close to the disputed private v. renter property line and play music to annoy the other side, while that plays out gyrate your hips back and forth side to side like an ex-stripper in front of your 8 year old and 12 year old. The hip thrusts during Squeeze Box played off their “Who’s greatest hits” CD was priceless, as Roger Daltrey would bellow “in and out and in and out and in and out” she would thrust her hips back and forth with her hands placed in front of her attached to some air booty, I never laughed so hard in my life, it’s what makes the world go round people… excellent.

So how do you end an epic vacation such as this, well funny you ask, well since we are in the area anyway we will go to the wunderbar town of Frankenmuth Michigan, which is home to such shopping as Bronners, the worlds largest Christmas store; and believe me, in all honesty it is. Mix that with the culinary delight of any Faux German town aspiring to bring in visiting tourists… the chicken dinners. Yes I said that right, family style chicken dinners. To this day when I think of family style chicken I think of Germany, it goes hand in hand. Kidding aside, they make a great family style dinner, and yes we go every year it’s part of the experience. So where is the musical interlude to this? Well picture this, the town is done up with German Bavarian architecture, even the covered bridge that was brought on to the Bavarian Inn’s property was made in Germany and shipped over piece by piece. Enter the restaurant, have a seat, order, and enjoy your dinner, complete with Bavaria accents, art, and waiters and waitresses in Lederhosen and Lederdressen for the girls. Let us not leave out the accordion player that walks around from table to table; I wish I had my camera on me or even a recording device because here is the best part: our accordion player was an older gentleman who played all the German classics but he had a sense of humor. He would play polka classics to the 60’s plus crowd who showed up for the early bird special, but as he approached the table of college kids a few tables from me he broke out into “Proud Mary” ala Creedence Clearwater Revival, (masterfully done too), the best accordion version I ever heard. I tip him well and laughed as I left, absolutely wunderbar.

So as I leave with my musical interlude of what I did over my summer vacation, I would challenge you to look and listen and find joy in the music of past in present in your life. Carry on my wayward son and Happy Trails to you…  Puppet Show

buy The Who’s Tommy …. buy Empire of the Sun’s Walking on a Dream ….. buy Steve Earle’s Copperhead Road ….. buy Ugly Kid Joe’s As Ugly As It Gets: The Best of Ugly Kid Joe ….. buy Ted Nugent’s Spirit of the Wild ….. buy Van Halen’s Diver Down ….. buy The Who’s 20th Century Masters, The Millennium Collection, The Best of The Who ….. buy Gordon Lightfoot’s Complete Greatest Hits

This video is amazing! You can view it a number of different ways, it’s way cool. Enjoy, “Chosen Armies” it’s got some great hooks, an amazingly infective bass line and drum rolls that will please you again and again. I’m liking this more with every listen, it’s going to be great to hear it live, you heard it from me. Now go out and support Children Collide so we can bring them to the States and prove me right! xoxox

They will be releasing a new album later this year, but for now there are tracks being streamed on their MySpace and live footage as well as music videos on YouTube. They also have a new concept for videos with their website featuring an interactive video for their song ‘Chosen Armies’: