Too tight to squeeze in ...

So we had a ridiculous flood of Hot Tickets this week for the print edition, but there are a couple shows I wanted to call your attention to because they sound, frankly, awesome.

Firstly, on Sat., Apr. 21, Afternoon Records is having a fourth anniversary blowout, and when I say blowout, I mean BLOWOUT! That means not one, but two shows, both All Ages, the first at 3 p.m. and the second at 8 p.m. And the lineups. Afternoon Records doyen Ian Anderson has stepped up his game over the past year, diversifying and deepening the AR roster beyond the fractured math-punk leanings that the label was known for in the early days to include everything from the folk/roots of Haley Bonar t the punk/doo-wop of God Damn Doo Wop Band and this showcase is going to feature them all. You can see the full lineups for both shows right here on Afternoon Records' website. It's going to be hard to pick a moment to duck out for some crispy orange beef at Shuang Cheng, but I'd circle the part of the program from 8 to 10 p.m., which will feature recent signees We All Have Hooks for Hands, soon-to-be blown up Mouthful of Bees, the Black Keys-meets-White Stripes-in-a-power-outage-knife-fight bluegrass and folk of A Night in the Box and the darkly melodic and deceptively complex pop of Ela. Maybe they should have tailgating starting at noon in the parking lot over on 5th.

Also of note is another showcase of sorts, the first edition of Revival Show, a new night of acoustic roots music hosted by The Get Up Johns at the Turf Club. I can't say exactly what you should expect, except that Josh Wenck from The Get Up Johns says the show "embraces the style of an old-time tent revival meeting while requiring only that the audience pay the price of admission ($5) and not that they get right with God." Well, thanks goodness for that. I'm ready for a night of old-timeyness, complete with "prayer benches and a rough-hewn pulpit," but I don't know if I'm ready for salvation just yet. For the series' debut, The Get Up Johns have enlisted Charlie Parr, Mike Gunther & His Restless Souls, The Ditchlilies and Molly Maher & Her Disbelievers. Back when House of Mercy was holding events on the Old Stage at the Turf, they were always a fun time, and I expect much the same from Revival Show. More info at turfclub.net. OK, you know what? There's not really more info there, but I feel obliged to put the venue's website.

A couple heads up ...

Hey y'all: I was so busy with finishing up the SxSW diary and then also the cover story on Eclipse Records this week that I didn't get to write any hot tickets, so I wanted to call your attention to two things happening this week that will be awesome.

1.) Birdmonster @ The Varsity on Fri., Mar. 23. I caught these guys by accident the first time around when they just happened to split a bill with Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin at the Nomad. Live, they were simply an explosion of manic energy, putting on one of those stage shows you wish every band could bring. Since then, they've risen up a bit in the national estimate, hence their headlining slot at The Varsity. They've been playing them on 89.3 The Current and their album, No Midnight, stands up well next to their show, full to the brim with post-punk energy. Despite all the drive, they manage to be tuneful and sharp, plus epic in their own fuzzy way. You better go. 8 p.m. 18+. $10. varsitytheater.org and birdmonster.com.

2. Friendly No One release show for ex's for i's at the Uptown Bar on Fri., Mar. 23. Friendly No One are a terrific group of guys. I had the pleasure of hanging out with them one night while they worked on a side project called Crossing the Atlantic that has yet to be released, but I got to hear at least one of the songs from this EP. Their last full-length was mostly composed of tight and poppy stabs of punk-flecked goodness that sounded a good bit like indie rockers Cold Water Flat, but this new EP shows them stretching out a bit, incorporating drum loops and keyboards, and even whipping up a credible Tom Waits impression on "Boat." Kudos to bands who keep you guessing. Speaking of which, also slated to appear are Kill the Vultures, ex-Vox Vermillionaires Company Inc., and the awesomely named Quebecois Wheelchair Assassins. Lemme know when you find the samizdat, you crazy assasins de fauteuil roulants. 9 p.m. $5. 21+.

And be sure to check out Ice Palace with Beatrix Jar and Original Mark Edwards at the Nomad tonight. I'm finally going to get to check out the Minneseries in person, and I'm pretty damn psyched.

Also, I'll be on Homegrown this week with Cloud Cult, and I'll be guest hosting all by myself next week on Homegrown when Low visit the studio.

twin town high release show this weekend!

hey y'all. the twin town high page at myspace has been blowin' up, but apparently now it's just blown up, along with a lot of other pages there, so who knows if it'll be back in time for me to lay the hot jam on you?

:: S A T U R D A Y,  J U L Y  2 9  A T  T H E  T U R F ::

THE FIRST (OF TWO) TWIN TOWN HIGH RELEASE SHOWS!!!

featuring: Halloween, Alaska :: Kill the Vultures :: Martin Devaney :: The Pines :: The Glad Version

$5 gets you in and a copy of the CD. $2 gets you a pint from 8-10 p.m.

doors are at 8 p.m., music at 9 p.m. sharp.

the current has been jamming the disc all week and we've been getting some truly incredible and amazing press around the twin cities. doubting thomas? just look:

Press for Twin Town High 8

City Pages, 07.19.06 by Lindsey Thomas

Various artists
Twin Town High Vol. 8
I wish I could say that Pulse music editor Steve McPherson and I are engaged in a bitter rivalry that involves plenty of trash-talking (Hey McQueerson, I heard you like the new Scott Stapp record! Ooh, snap!) and poorly executed dance-offs in the Clown Lounge. Sadly, this is not true. Steve is a stand-up guy and he knows how to put together a damn good compilation. The disc has plenty of tracks worth mentioning, but some highlights include Painted Saints' accordion-and-violin lilt, "Lights Hanging Low from Heavy Cottonwoods" and Friends Like These's semi-apologetic lullaby, "Excuses." And the denouement to Middlepicker's "Top Down" ("Who's got the chops to make me shiver?") is my pugnacious new rock-crit battle cry. Watch out!

City Pages A-List, 07.26.06 by Peter Scholtes

Future collectors researching the Twin Cities music scene of the '00s will have no cheaper or more entertaining option than picking up all eight volumes of the Twin Town High Music Yearbook series. The latest edition (released by Pulse of the Twin Cities) follows the usual surefire formula: 22 exclusive tracks by one band each, which in one way or another pass through the organic confines of Ben Durrant's Crazy Beast Studio. Highlights this time around include contributions by Hockey Night, Claire de Lune, Bellwether, Big Quarters, and Jessy Greene (with Dessa). The disc also includes tonight's excellent CD-release celebrants: Halloween, Alaska; Kill the Vultures; the Pines; the Glad Version; and Martin Devaney. 21+. $5 (includes a copy of the CD). 8:00 p.m.

Pioneer Press, 07.27.06 by Ross Raihala

Pulse has issued the eighth volume of its venerable "Twin Town High" compilation, a 22-track snapshot of what the local music scene looks like these days. Kill the Vultures, Martin Devaney, the Glad Version, the Pines and Halloween, Alaska play the first of two CD-release shows Saturday at the Turf. (Another follows Aug. 25 with Building Better Bombs, Big Quarters, Middlepicker, These Modern Socks and Beight.) Fans get the disc for free with paid admission.

The Onion, 07.27.06 by Chris Bahn

Even though Pulse is a competitor, we’d be remiss if we didn’t give a nod to the latest edition of its Twin Town High compilation CD series. A strong lineup of hometownsters gathers at the Turf on Saturday for the TTH release show, including Halloween, Alaska, Kill the Vultures, Martin Devaney, The Glad Version and The Pines (who, by the way, signed with St. Paul folk label Red House earlier this month, and good for them).

Star Tribune, 07.28.06 by Chris Riemenschneider

“High on 'Twin Town 8'
Consistently the best local music compilations for the past half-decade, the Pulse-sponsored "Twin Town High" CD series hits arguably its highest note yet with installment No. 8. There's a release party for the 22-track collection Saturday at the Turf Club with Halloween, Alaska, Kill the Vultures, the Pines, Martin Devaney and the Glad Version. All have new/unreleased cuts on the disc, as does Bellwether (from its long-in-the-can album "Stinging Nettles"), Big Quarters, Hockey Night, Friends Like These, Joanna James and P.O.S.' band Building Better Bombs, plus Jessy Greene and Dessa contributed a great duet. The discs are free with Saturday's $5 cover, or free with any local CD purchase at Cheapo stores. The Pines, by the way, have a much-deserved new record deal with Red House Records. Look for a CD early next year. The St. Paul label's next big release is Greg Brown's long-awaited album, "The Evening Call," co-produced with Bo Ramsey (father of Pines co-leader Ben Ramsey).”

and, just in case it starts working ever again:

twin town high myspace page

the page has the tracks from four of the five bands playing on saturday. plus, hal, ak has put their track from twin town high up on their page, which you can get to from ours.

the death knell of criticism, mk iii

i'm about to launch into a one-listen wednesday of afternoon records' upcoming release by one for the team, but first this: there's going to be a slamming show at the triple rock tonight featuring headliners pretty girls make graves (including ex-twin cities bamf jay clark on guitar), giant drag and the joggers. pgmg just released elan vital, which i'm pretty sure means lively flair or something like that. there are throngs and throngs of kids who love pretty girls like rap kids love breaks, and i'm not super-familiar, but i love jay clark's remix of bloc party's "positive tension." it sounds like a nintendo playing dance rock. pgmg mix up the vocals between the dudes and the dudettes, which always gets the thumbs up from me, although the critical reception for this album has been somewhat muted. i brought along the new romance, so i'm throwing that in right now.

giant drag is another boy-girl affair, although just the one girl (annie hardy) and the one boy (micah calabrese). their disc kicks off with the catchingly-named "kevin is gay," and over the course of the whole thing cover a good amount of ground sonically, especially for a two-piece. it definitely falls onto the indie-dance-punk-pop side of things, but isn't overly aggressive. watching duos go at it live is always entertaining as they fill in parts on the fly. the best of them make up with energy what they lack in instrumentation.

this just in: the new romance is more immediately good than elan vital. i'm not saying better, just that so far it's making a better impression.

and now: one-listen wednesday

one for the team
s/t(?)
afternoon records

right away: guitar-through-a-tiny-radio sound. an immediate plus. when the track kicks in, it's damn solid. i don't have any track listings here, so i don't know what this is called. it's kind of clattering and great. tamborines should be mandatory on certain songs and this is one of them. and there they are. call me crazy, but i'm thinking matthew sweet here. it's got that vocals-in-you-face feel to it.

checking up on myspace (where else do you go for info about bands?), i discover that one for the team has 0 friends. not even tom. this would be ian anderson (who heads up afternoon records and writes for the pusle from time to time) and a bunch of guys doing anderson's songs, i'm a-guessing. the second song is definitely keeping up the ante with a great line about, "i've been coming of age for most of my life," and a refrain of "you're taking off, you're taking off your..." i really hope that's a double entendre.

apparently, power-pop grows on trees here in the twin cities, and this is one of the finer examples i've heard. personally, i like my power-pop a little shaggy, a little more organic. plug in, crank the amps, write a rocker, then add claps, harmonies, and yup, tamborines. another major plus: the fourth track's chorus references the band's name ("take one for the team, and one for me"). always a plus in my book. the pinnacle example being, of course, the song "in a big country" from the album in a big country by the band in a big country.

wow, killer little ac/dc style riff at the end of track five. razor sharp, anderson. track five is so far the most spleen-filled, but it's still pretty sweet and the breakdown part at the end reminds me of muse--one of my favorite guilty pleasure bands, like a cross between queen and rage against the machine.

i always struggle in these things to just say who bands sound like, since that's the cheapest and easiest way to explain a band's sound, but on the other hand, it's cheap and easy. track six has a great little interpolation of that childhood teasing melody of "na na na na naaa naaaa" (that looks horrible and not like how it sounds, but i don't know how to express it in print) in the chorus.

"making wishes under overpasses?" hell yeah, dude. i've always liked the stuff i've gotten from afternoon records from superdanger to viceburgh to look down to squareshooters, but this might be my favorite so far. hints of 12 rods? yeah, i think so. see, there are nasal vocals and then there are nasal vocals, and it's a really fine line to walk between braying and endearing; anderson's doing a great job here of staying on the right side of that line.

and now the track nine change of pace. keyboards! well, at least it starts that way, but overdriven guitars have taken over ... and now back to the keyboards. it's a song about school and buying houses. "someday maybe we'll be fine" is the chorus. this is what i love about a good indie rock pop moment: it's simple and almost dumb, even, in a way, but couched inside of support that's fuzzy and splintered and that tension gives it a certain poignance.

okay, i've got it now: built to spill circa there's nothing wrong with love. cross-pollinate that with matthew sweet circa girlfriend. who wouldn't want to listen to that? yeah, this is just super-pleasing over the distance. we're at track ten now and i haven't heard a clunker so far.

looks like they played with voxtrot on april 17. i'll bet that was a good show. and thus we've wound to the end of one for the team's disc. man, kudos, ian. this one's definitely going to be getting more than one listen.

over-the-top is the new laidback

but first: one of my more favorite local groups, friendly no one, is playing at the terminal bar on april 1. they were kind enough to give me a call the other day in the hopes of scoring a hot ticket, which i couldn't do because it was too late, but i am hereby plugging this show right now. here's a review from pulse of their disc "the cleveland specials":

Friendly No One
The Cleveland Specials
Self-Released

First of all, this album looks great, even if the CD completely nicks the on-disc art from Conor Oberst’s Desaparecidos. It’s nice to see a band pay close attention to crafting a package that makes you psyched to slip the disc in. The album’s impeccably recorded, especially for a band-recorded effort, and if you like indie rock delievered with clean arpeggios and urgently hushed vocals that break into grindy off-kilter choruses, you’ll be hooked by the second track, “The Seconds That Hurt.” You’re probably thinking Dismemberment Plan, and you’d be right, although Scott and Atom’s vocals are less of an acquired taste than Travis Morrison’s. If anybody remembers Cold Water Flat, they’re a little like them in their fondness for rolling rather than jackknifing their rhythms although they play the loud/soft dynamic card a little more dramatically. Indie rock aficionados take heed; everyone else, you’ve probably stopped reading this by now.

so check 'em out.

in related news: over-the-top is the new laidback. i'm a lover of indie rock, which means having an appreciation for the just a little off, the hushed, the bruised, the quirky. and that's great. i love all that stuff, but here's the thing about spring, which seems to have newly sprung in our corner of the world: all i want to listen to are ridiculously over-the-top and/or mainstream bands. what's wrong with sterling production and ass-kicking in a very streamlined way? so here are the things that have been rocking my world recently, much to my girlfriend's chagrin:

the mars volta :: frances the mute & de-loused in the comatorium
the black crowes :: southern harmony and musical companion & amorica
reef :: together: the best of reef
pearl jam :: my own personal mix

that there pearl jam includes the remixed version of alive and the re-recorded version of even flow from the best of that came out a year or so ago. they're just so ... exuberant! sometimes i miss that. the earnestness. in any case, after hearing the single world wide suicide, i'm fully psyched to hear the new full-length from good old pj. i'll be sure to hand in my gun, badge and indie cred on my way out the door.

afternoon records kicks out the jams

3-year-olds are so cute. past all those terrible twos and saying the cutest things. afternoon records is going to be celebrating their third birthday this weekend by basically taking over the triple rock for 27 hours. saturday's going to feature an all ages show and a 21+ show with everybody's favorite up-and-comers melodious owl and popsters supreme superdanger alongside aneuretical and hello blue. and then sunday there's an all ages show with suqareshooters, the battle royale, one for the team, the plagiarists and viceburgh. i expect many people will be sleeping in sleeping bags in the green room overnight. seriously: if you haven't peeped any of afternoon's releases, you must've been in a sleeping bag for the last couple years. this town's rife with great little labels from eclectone to susstones and afternoon records is among the best with a rookie-of-the-year-fed lineup with enough pop-punk-dance-fury power to fuel a baker's dozen of disco infernos. that was the most hallett thing i've ever written. all the shows are $7, all ages ones start at 5 pm, the 21+ one at 9 pm. check afternoon records' website or the triple rock's website for more info.

the books at the whole music club tonight

i just got a lovely package earlier this week from the books with their last three cds in it and i have been completely transfixed by them. i'd recommend everyone go to the whole music club for dosh, death vessel and the books tonight at 7:30 pm. i'm gonna do my level best to be there. the books are an indie rock duo (that's what i've read, at least) who make spookily beautiful music with guitars, loops, some vocals, and a whole lot of found sound. it's really entrancing and thick stuff that relies on the juxtaposition of simple elements to creat complexity, rather than complex elements. i think the pairing with dosh is a great one, as their processes have something in common. anywho. should be a fun one.

Sound Gallery Open House!

The Sound Gallery Open House happening last night, a music extravaganza celebrating new recording studio acquired by Nick Tveitbakk (Daykit, These Modern Socks) and Jacob Grun (seldomseen), was unbelievable! This event was HUGE, in a HUGE space. Seemingly thousands were still there in the wee hours of the morning, with a few more acts to go! (Numbers were in the high hundreds, I'm certain). I've never been to anything like this in my life. People lined the flights of stairs, the band room was really cool and exclusive and looking like a groovy '60's den, with fantastic DJ Plain Ole’ Bill spinning a wide array, from '80's pop tunes to Grandmaster Fly.

The lineup was jawdropping: Joanna James, Super Danger, Plastic Chord, Parts for all Makes, Puppies, XOXO Judy, Faux Jean, seldomseen, Harp and Finial, Thunder in the Valley, Daykit, and Chris Koza, and I likely missed a few in between. I got there in time to see the last three. TiTV were fantastic as always, getting everyone to dance wildly. Lead singer Graham called Amy Hager (Fort Wilson Riot) onstage to sing a song. "She doesn't know this song. She doesn't know the words. But she's going to sing it with us!" Amy was of course completely up to the task, listening and getting the feel of it, then pulling everything up from inside and belting out a raw, strong, bluesy croon, then "baaaby" stuff, then improvizational lyrics on the spot, she and Graham alternating between crooning with and screaming at each other. It was a rare, great moment, of many that night. She has an incredible voice, and she and Fort Wilson Riot are not to be missed.

I'd not seen Daykit, and now I know what all the buzz is about. Lead Corey Palmer is an excellent vocalist/songwriter. Daykit, generated These Modern Socks with 3 of their personnel, including Corey and feature two Harp and Finial guys. All good, and hundreds of people were happy to see Daykit again.

Grun, experiencing laryngitis from singing and meeting and greeting so many friends and still quite elated, gave me the tour of their beautiful recording studio rooms and equipment. Amazing. It's an extremely large beautiful warehouse recording and performance space on 3rd Avenue North, South of Washington, with a spectacular future ahead. Keep your ears to the ground for more to come of this.

tonight there's a show going down at big v's with the sea, like lead, which was supposedly at the turf and was listed as such in the turf ad this week, but bill from ela assured me last night that it's at big v's and it's going to be hot. i might try to make it, but i also might try to finish my article for next week. it's a tossup. anybody else going?

there's a great show opening this weekend at the soap factory which is gonna feature some kickass bands. i would have hot ticketed it if i'd remembered it, but it's so darn hard to keep up with all the great stuff, sometimes something slips through the cracks. here's the info:

the exhibit is by 7-ply culture and it's skating-related.

for more info:
soap factory
7-ply culture

> Exhibiting Artists:
> Ed Templeton // Luke Hunt // Erin Knutson // Pat Smith
> Derek Maxwell // Eric Carlson // Joe Rizzo
>
>
> Saturday, Sept 3, 3 - 10 pm
> Exhibition opens
> Skate shop art show
> Bring your board - some of this art is skateable
> Bands:
> The Fuck Yeahs // Doomtree (still confirming) // Brother and Sister
> Thank You // Useless Wooden Toys
>
> Sunday, Sept 4, 12 - 6 pm
> Skating and demos
> Exhibition
> DIY art projects
>
> Monday, Sept 5, 3 - 10 pm
> More skating
> Skate shop art show competition judging
> Exhibit closes
> DIY art projects
> DJs / party
> Video screenings
> Bonfire
>
>
> Sponsors:
> Radio K // Red Bull Energy Drink // ROBOTlove
>
>