MP3s are for sampling purposes only. Please buy the album if you like what you hear. If you have a complaint about the ownership of a track, please contact me directly and I will be happy to take it down ASAP.
MOKB On SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio
Is your band interested in recording a session for MOKB's weekly show on SIRIUS XM Satellite Radio, SIRIUS XMU? If so, email Jeff and/or Dodge and let us know.
Unless you've been in a coma, you know all about Judd Apatow, a fellow who seems to have painted a bull's-eye on the American Psyche as of late. Whether his name appear in the credits as writer, director, producer or some combination thereof, the box office receipts for his films inevitably dwarf the GNP of most developing nations. On July 31st, Apatow will release his latest darkly-comedic effort, Funny People, starring Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler. Rogen is likable enough, despite displaying the dramatic range of a doorbell, but I'm really hoping this film gives Sandler the chance to show us more of the unexpected acting chops he showed in the very underrated, Punch-Drunk Love.
So, what do you care? Well, MOKB has scored a handful of copies of the Funny People soundtrack, which includes tunes from Neil Diamond, Ringo Starr and (gulp) Sandler himself, as well as two suitably dark numbers from the late, great Warren Zevon. As if that weren't enough, the record also includes a live version of Wilco's Jesus, Etc. featuring Andrew Bird, and John Lennon's acoustic take on Watching The Wheels.
And all you have to do to win is prove you're a funny person. Simply, tell us your best joke (in the comments section - click "Talk back to yo' mama" below). And since it is a Judd Apatow film, the filthier the joke, the better.
Pitchfork Music Festival 2009 Show and Photo Recap : Friday
Ahhh...another year, another Pitchfork Music Festival. I'd be lying if I said there was another festival I looked forward to more. The vibes are good, the people are (mostly) friendly, and the majority of bands actually appeal to me. And with ticket prices affordable enough to make other festivals look like money-hungry models at a Hollywood nursing home, you really can't beat it. Chicago's Union Park once again set the scene for the weekend, and Friday night's lineup was seasoned with veterans, none of which I'd ever seen in concert before. Tortoise, Jesus Lizard, and Yo La Tengo all played beautifully and ferociously, respectively, but when Built to Spill's Doug Martsch shook the words of the majestic "Else" from his body, I forgot about the three previous bands and nearly filled my empty Goose Island cup with tears.
MOKB photographer Dave Donovan Evans worked tirelessly all weekend to bring you the visuals, so have a look at Friday's fun and enjoy. Loads more photos after the jump...
As one of the best young songwriters around, Josh Ritter has seen his audience and critical acclaim grow with each passing year of this decade. Born in Idaho with an innate sense of song, Ritter found his early success easiest in Ireland where his friends The Frames brought him as an opener. Slowly but surely, American listeners have followed suit and large crowds gather nightly to see his live show (sold out the Bluebird here in Denver). I am very excited to hear what his next album will be like and expect him to gather more and more attention along the way.
MOKB : Any plans for a new record?
Josh Ritter : I have big plans! I'm finishing my new one in August and will hopefully have it out at the beginning of the new year. Shortly after that I will attempt to break the world record for the hundred yard dash.
MOKB : What are the differences, both good and bad, between self-recording your first two albums for under $1,000 and the recording of your last two albums?
Josh Ritter : There is very little about recording those first couple of records that I'd wish to repeat. I love what I got, but it was absolute hell bringing it all together. Still, at the time I didn't know it, I was just recording and excited to be doing so. The set up right now is great. I'm recording at Sam Kassirer's Great North Sound Society in Maine. There are donkey's nearby, bourbon and no email. It's idyllic.
MOKB : Every show of yours I have seen you appear honestly excited to be doing what you are doing for a living. This is much different than the too cool unaffected look of many indie musicians. How did that come to be? Ever try to hide it?
Josh Ritter : I love playing music! I love writing songs! No matter how many times I get to go on stage it's a rush. Its the chance to be who you really want to be for an hour and a half each night. I don't think I'll ever get over the miracle of getting to do exactly what I love to do. For that reason alone I couldn't stop smiling if I tried.
MOKB : What are you listening to now, both new and old?
Josh Ritter : I listen to the wisdom of children and the continuing advice of my parents. I'm also listening to the music of Alfred Deller, Dawn Landes, Langhorne Slim and Joanna Newsome.
MOKB : Summer plans?
Josh Ritter : I am on tour right now all over the place and will be finishing my record up in Maine. I'm also working on reinventing electricity, reorganizing my moral dilemmas in alphabetical order, and practicing up on my cursive.
I for one hope Ritter is able to maintain his earnest sense of excitement as he is sure to grow to larger and larger crowds. Look for him on tour this summer in the US and then off to the UK to open for Ray Lamontagne.
We really needed to pick back up with our MOKB Profiles series, so we thought there would be no better/funnier/gap-toothed of a guy to do so with than Paul Scheer...
Hometown : Northport, New York Must see/go to place in your hometown : Steak Port - A Steak house with a nautical theme. Where You Live : Los Feliz, California Must see/go to place where you live : Skylight Books, reminds what the world was like before big chain stores started selling everything. Age : 54 Profession : America's Poet Laureaute and Soft Core Porn Star Favorite Food : Sushi Favorite Drink : An Arnold Palmer Favorite Book : The Official Abraham Lincoln Joke Book Favorite Song : According to my Itunes Library it's Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone" Favorite Album : Tie: Weezer (Blue Album) and Andrew W.K. (I Get Wet) Recent Artist You've Been Listening To : Spinnerette Artist of The Past You've Been Listening To : The Band Favorite Pick-Up Line : You remind me of a Muppet, I want put my fingers in you. Perfect Date : Meeting a gorgeous female spy at a drop point, then having to go on the run with her because we are avoiding sniper fire from a rogue assassin, which turns into a exciting car chase through Paris, we eventually make the assassin's car swerve off a bridge and die? Then we retreat to a safe house make sweet love and I when go to shower I come out to find she has been painted entirely gold. Object of Desire : An Ergonomic Desk Chair or a Blu-ray player Arch Enemy : Hans Gruber. That guy is always trying to steal my Bearer Bonds Super Power : Freeze Time, so I can get more napping in. Achilles Heel : Scare Tactics Pet Peeve : People who put their dogs in strollers Prized Possession : A hand painted Family Portrait of Steve Martin's Family from The Jerk Greatest Accomplishment : Doing the Live 24 Hour Human Giant Marathon on MTV & beating Vin Diesel in an Arm Wrestling Match. What's New? : Rob Riggle (Daily Show) and I just shot a bunch of shorts that are going to be on a new HBO comedy show called "FUNNY OR DIE Presents..." in September and I started a LOST blog called DamonCarltonandaPolarBear.com where I'm selling exclusive velvet paintings starting on August 15th.
We just posted a two-part video interview and performance with The Rural Alberta Advantage over at MOKB's LaundroMatinee, but I guess you can just watch them here too...
Jessica Lea Mayfield, who has been championed by The Avett Brothers and Dan Auerbach, to name a couple, performed Kiss Me Again and Grown Man for our friends at Athens SOUNDIES recently...
I forgot to put up the MOKB SIRIUS XM Blog Radio playlist on Tuesday, so you can check it AFTER THE JUMP...
Islands - No You Don't the xx - teardrops Throw Me The Statue - Hi-Fi Goon Toro y Moi - Talamak The Flaming Lips - Silver Trembling Hands Lake - Madagascar Roadside Graves - Work Itself Out DEASTRO - Toxic Crusaders (Van Benton Remix) Dragonette - Fixing to Thrill (Villains Rmx v.2) The Hood Internet - Tabourine Reckoning (Eve vs. Radiohead) Kid Sister - Right Hand Hi Crystal Fighters - Xtatic Truth (Douster Remix Radio Edit) Matt & Kim - Lessons Learned Princeton - Calypso Gold Holiday Shores - Edge Of Our Lives Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen Obits - Pine On Disappears - Hearing Things Ducktails - WISHES Discovery - Carby (ft. Ezra Koenig) Pomegranates - Everybody, Come Outside! The Flaming Lips - Convinced Of The Hex Toro Y Moi - Timed Pleasure Port O'Brien - Oslo Campfire Tiny Vipers - Dreamer the polyphonic spree - blurry (demo) Yo La Tengo - Here To Fall Deer Tick - La Bamba (Richie V. cover)
For four years and through four albums, Portugal. The Man has consistently been a proponent of not-giving-a-fuck.
Fans of the Alaskan band, formed from the ashes of atypical post-hardcore act Anatomy of a Ghost, have learned to expect only one thing from the band — don’t expect anything. Each Portugal album has wound deep inside a different genre, stretched it well beyond what the band’s contemporaries had done before and arrived on the other side with a near masterpiece.
Album the first, Waiter: You Vultures! was frenetic, and synth-heavy, a dramatic, prog-rock album for the new millennium that you could dance to – like a less nerdy Mars Volta. Album the second, Church Mouth, was filled with twisty classic rock grooves and thunderous guitar; album the third, last year’s Censored Colors played like a folked-out, Abbey Road-ish psychedelic opera.
So there’s that. Then there’s the name.
"We wanted to give the band that Elton John or David Bowie quality - a name that was huge, a giant. We didn't want to use our own names, but instead create a character, just like the Beatles had Sgt. Pepper. In picking a name, a country is much more fitting because it's an individual mind made up of a group vote. We made our character a country."
Now, at first, all of this sounds like over-ambitious rock pretension. Thing is, Portugal. The Man plays its music like it’s the last band on earth — the trio really believes that what its doing is earth-shattering. So while, on paper, the band seems downright silly, on record - and especially live - it is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Until now.
Portugal’s fourth release in just about four years, The Satanic Satanist finds a band that’s never been lacking on where’d-that-come-from? creativity coming up short.
Portugal. The Man has effectively listened to what so many of the band’s critics have said its entire career: “Too ambitious!” or “Tone it down!” Whereas an album like Censored Colors grabbed listeners in how downright weird it was (funeral organs, ghostly choirs, UFO noises), the most arresting thing about The Satanic Satanist is it’s goofy title.
The album opens with "People Say," a sunny, funky jam with much darker lyrics: “What a lovely day, we won the war! / May have lost a million men / But we got a million more.” Gourley’s vocal melody seems sung with a smile; everything from the wah-wah guitar to the bed of organ beneath it is breezy and light.
"Lovers in Love" is a more driving tune with a Motown-acid-trip feel. Terse string stabs and speedy hand-drum pats and funk guitar race by with Gourley’s falsetto attempting to push the song towards heaven; it gets off the ground, sure, but there’s a long way to go before breaking out of the atmosphere.
Now while this may seem like a doom and gloom review, it most certainly is not; The Satanic Satanist is good. But that’s as far as the praise can go. When the record plays, it’s enjoyable – some tracks will have you humming along – but the bold and unapologetically spacey Portugal. The Man that has consistently surprised listeners won’t be found on this record.
Whereas each record prior truly explored a new and different sound, The Satanic Satanist seems content to sit squarely inside its genre of choice – let’s call it sunny, psychedelic pop – uninterested in sonic navigation to new and uncharted waters.
Which could be fine, even pleasant, if we didn’t know Portugal was capable of so much more.
The band has landed squarely where most fans would’ve never expected: the middle of the road.
If you missed their amazing Indianapolis debut a few month ago, you can stop kicking yourself and make up for it now. Wednesday, August 12th at Radio Radio, MOKB Presents...Woodhands + Andy D + Hey Champ. $5 in advance / $7 at the door. Music starts at 9pm. 21+.
This is sure to be one of the more epic MOKB dance parties of 2009!
New music from Entrance Band (or Entrance). The band will be here in Indianapolis for an MOKB Presents show with Amazing Baby (at Radio Radio) on September 29th. Buy your tickets now! (Entrance previously on MOKB)
Music Go Music, the side project from Bodies of Water frontwoman, Meredith, has release date/album art. The album is called Expressions and will be released on October 6th by Secretly Canadian.
We still love Brooklyn's Lemonade, and continuing to feed our need, the band recently released a new video for their song Big Weekend.
"90's loving, psychedelic rainbow infused, xtc riddled beach rave that's littered with finger pianos, saxophones, and the most beautiful women in the world washing their hair in the most sensual fashion possible."
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Lemonade's self-titled debut is out now on True Panther.
Probably not great news for the already struggling Park The Van Records label, but a great move for the band. If you haven't already, make sure you check out Dr. Dog on The Laundromatinee...
07-31 Portland, OR - Pickathon 08-01 Portland, OR - Pickathon 08-03 Bethlehem, PA - Bethlehem Musikfest 09-18 Chattanooga, TN - Nightfall Concert at Miller Plaza 09-19 Bristol, VA - Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion 09-20 Bristol, VA - Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion 09-28 Asheville, NC - The Orange Peel 09-29 Atlanta, GA - The Loft 09-30 New Orleans, LA - The Howlin' Wolf 10-01 Baton Rouge, LA - Chelsea's Cafe 10-02 Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival 10-03 San Francisco, CA - Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival 10-05 Brookdale, CA - The Brookdale Lodge 10-06 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater 10-07 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress 10-09 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge * 10-10 Aspen, CO - Belly Up * 10-11 Boulder, CO - The Fox Theatre * 10-12 Lawrence, KS - The Bottleneck * 10-13 St. Louis, MO - The Gargoyle Club * 10-15 Covington, KY - Mad Hatter * 10-16 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom * 10-17 North Adams, MA - Mass MOCA 10-20 Charlottesville, VA - Gravity ^ 10-21 Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle * 10-22 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar 10-23 Philadelphia, PA - Theater of Living Arts 10-24 Philadelphia, PA - Theater of Living Arts
John Darnielle goes with God on his upcoming album The Life Of The World To Come. Each of the 12 songs is named from Bible verses. When asked about it, Darnielle explained:
"I guess the obvious question is going to be: "John, have you had some sort of religious awakening?" and while I guess lots of people might want to be coy about answering that, that's never really been my style, so: no. It's not like that. It's not some heavy-narrative-distance deal either, though, and it's not a screed. It's twelve new songs: twelve hard lessons the Bible taught me, kind of. More than that I'd want to wait to say until some people have heard it, which won't be long. Will there be more news soon, quite soon? Like, next week, even? Oh yes there will!"
I haven't paid much attention to the producer-conglomerate project Miike Snow. There seemed to be an over-abundance of hype around it all. Next big thing type stuff. I'm guilty of it too occasionally obvs, but I didn't start anything here. Anyway, to kill my own fuddy-duddiness, this track is really excellent and there is a new video out for it. Bonus time! Peter Bjorn & John remixed the track not too long ago as well.
Vic Chesnutt has recruited members of Fugazi, Silver Mt. Zion and Godspeed You! Black Emperor to act as his backing band during his upcoming North American tour. You may remember that Vic recruited Elf Power last time around to handle that job. The tour will be in support of a new record to be released September 22nd, entitled At The Cut, through Constellation Records.
Epic, traffic-stopping and an exorcism of emotion are just some of the words and phrases used to describe the songs and ability of Seattle musician Jesy Fortino. Fortino records under the moniker Tiny Vipers. Her sophomore album, Life On Earth, released by Sub Pop Records this past July, is a beautiful search for truth containing songs powerful enough to transcend the simple moniker of "folk music." Sparse sounds created by one woman and one guitar, or piano, are a dime a dozen, so when a performer can develop so much with so little, it raises a lot of eyebrows and creates excitement. Fortino creates songs and uses space in a style that is reminiscent of José González. Themes of love and loss, then and now, shadow and illumination, despair and hope permeate throughout her lyrics. Her songs are powerful and bold, but filled with vulnerability and fragility. At such a young age, 26, she'll be creating excitement for a long time to come.
Luckyhorse Industries is planning on releasing Life On Earth on vinyl in August, and will include a bonus track.
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John Darnielle goes with God on his upcoming album The Life Of The World To Come. Each of the 12 songs is named from Bible verses. When asked about it, Darnielle explained:
