Silver Jews

I went and saw the Silver Jews at the Duck Room last night. I thought it was a great show, even though I wasn’t at all familiar with their latest album, Tanglewood Numbers. It was a very high-energy from the beginning and David Berman was chatty and personable, even if he did look like a walking skeleton. The St. Louis show was the first in their rare tour of America and served as a warm-up show for their performance at the Pitchfork Music Festival. Definitely check them out if you get a chance…

Jennifer O’Connor proved a capable opener. She had a great voice, but I kept thinking that the trio’s arrangements would benefit from more elaborate instrumentation.

Here are some pictures from the show:

Good On Paper

As this blog grows and reaches more readers, I get more and more emails and myspace friend requests from bands asking me to feature them on the blog. They are apparently under the mistaken assumption that I have some sort of clout in the blogosphere, but I do what I can to get the word out about bands I like, so when I discover a band that catches my ear, I’m happy to talk about them.

Good on Paper contacted me via myspace, if I remember correctly, and although I usually am hesitant to give unsolicited friend requests from bands an unbiased listen, I went to their myspace page and listened to their songs with an open mind. I am glad I did, as this young band can write a song or two.

With alternating male and female vocals, music that squarely falls into the ever-expanding “genre” of indie-rock, and hooks-o-plenty, this L.A.-based band earned itself some ink space on my little corner of the Internets. The band recently recorded its self-titled debut EP in January of 2006, with the help of Earlimart’s Aaron Espinoza. I’m a fan. Give ’em a listen. They compare themselves to Pavement and Velvet Underground, but I’ll let you make that judgment call for yourselves by offering the below mp3’s for your downloading pleasure.

Good on Paper – The Message
Good on Paper – Escape

You can get more information on the band and listen to more of their songs on their MySpace page.

The Black Angels

Austin’s The Black Angels, a band mining the same quasi-psychedelic territory as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (get it? They both like black, ok?), are playing at Off Broadway on August 3rd, with St. Louis’ own Tone Rodent. Good Times.

Here’s a song to convince you to go:

The Black Angels – The First Vietnamese War

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Double Bonus: New M Ward (whose new album, Post-War is out Aug. 22) and a My Morning Jacket cover, via My Old Kentucky Blog:

M Ward – To Go Home
My Morning Jacket – West End Girls
(Pet Shop Boys cover)

Joan Jett & EODM

On Friday, October 27, Joan Jett will be playing with the Eagles of Death Metal at Mississippi Nights. She will actually also be playing at the Warped Tour at the UMB bank pavillion tomorrow, along with NOFX, et al., but the Mississippi Nights should should be better and more intimate and will definitely be cooler. Ms. Jett recently released a new album, called Sinner, which features a bunch of new songs, as well as a great cover of the Replacements song “Androgynous”.

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Bonus: The Futureheads – Let’s Dance (David Bowie cover)

the paper chase review

I’ve been wanting to post my reivew of the paper chase’s new CD, Now You Are One Of Us for quite some time now, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to it. Part of the reason is I am busy and I procrastinate, but the bigger part is that the CD just does not excite me. As a huge fan of the band, I am really having trouble getting on board with this disc. They have really worn out the “ooh we’re scary because we were traumatized as kids and are now mentally unstable story lines.” I could have pulled the songs titles out of a hat filled with various combinations of the band’s previous song titles. Listening to the CD, I was able to predict nearly every key change and chord progression. Singer John Congleton literally sounds tired on the very first track and maintains that sense of non-urgency throughout the album. It’s still good, but by far my least favorite of all of their albums. Indie Workshop summed up my thoughts very well in their recent review of the CD, available, here.

The Drams

The Drams, the new project of Brent Best, formerly of Slobberbone, is releasing its Matt Pence-produced debut CD, Jubilee Dive next Tuesday, July 25. The band features Best, former Slobberbone members Jess Barr and Tony Harper, and former Budapest One members Chad Stockslager and Keith Killoren. I caught them live last fall at Off Broadway and was quite impressed. Building from the template established with Slobberbone, The Drams have expanded thei sound, adding more explicit pop hooks, keyboards, and more complex vocal harmonies. They are heading out on tour next week, but, unfortunately, will not be coming through St. Louis on this leg.

Here are the tour dates; check them out if they are coming through your town:

7/21/06 Denton, TX – Dan’s Silverleaf – Brent Best solo / opening for Joe Ely
7/23/06 Dallas, TX – Barley House – Brent Best solo
7/25/06 Tower Records In-Store Performance – Dallas TX 7pm
7/27/06 Denton TX – Dan’s Silverleaf
8/1/06 Kansas City MO – Mike’s Tavern
8/2/06 Lincoln NE – Duffy’s Tavern
8/3/06 Iowa City IA – The Mill
8/4/06 Minneapolis MN – 400 Bar
8/5/06 Chicago IL – Subterranean
8/6/06 Columbus OH – High Five
8/7/06 Wapakoneta OH – Rhythm & Brews
8/8/06 Newport OH – Southgate House
8/9/06 Cleveland OH – Beachland Ballroom
8/10/06 Boston MA – TT the Bear
8/11/06 Brooklyn NY – Southpaw
8/12/06 Philadelphia PA – The Fire
8/13/06 Hoboken NJ – Maxwell’s
8/14/06 Arlington VA – Iota
8/15/06 Raleigh NC – Pour House
8/16/06 Athens GA – Tasty World
8/17/06 Atlanta GA – Smith’s
8/18/06 Gainesville FL – Common Grounds
8/19/06 Orlando FL – Back Booth
8/20/06 Tampa FL – Skipper’s Smokehouse
8/21/06 Tallahassee FL – Beta Bar
9/25/06 San Francisco CA – Bottom of the Hill
9/26/06 Redding CA – Billy Bombay’s
9/28/06 Seattle WA – Tractor Tavern
9/29/06 Boise ID – Neurolux
9/30/06 Salt Lake City UT – Ego’s
10/2/06 Denver CO – Bender’s Tavern
10/4/06 Albuquerque NM – Launch Pad

In the meantime, you can download the first single from the album by going here.

You can stream several of their new songs at their MySpace Page.

Tilly and The Wall

Sometimes it seems like I can never say ‘no’ to going to a show, but, tonight, I did not go see Tilly and The Wall with Now It’s Overhead at the Creepy Crawl. Now, the problem is, I didn’t even tell you about it. And that’s because I just realized they were playing today. I have failed you and I apologize. I am sure it would have been a good show, but I was just too busy. They have a tap-dancer, for God’s sake. Right up my alley. Here’s some songs:

Tilly and The Wall – Bad Education
Now It’s Overhead – Wait In a Line

Here’s a picture from the show at the Creepy Crawl:
(Thanks to Glodeck for the photo)

Off Broadway

Off Broadway’s got a pretty solid lineup this summer/fall. Check it out. The Black Angels, Califone, Gentlemen Callers, Miles of Wire, The Trip Daddys, Bunnygrunt, Gumbohead, Bugs Henderson, The Living Blue, Tight Pants Syndrome, the Sex Robots, Finn’s Motel, Ghosts In Light.

Calexico

Calexico will be playing at Mississippi Nights on Saturday, September 23. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it, as I will be in Las Vegas for a bachelor party, but you should definitely try to check it out.

Calexico – All Systems Red
Calexico – Across The Wire (acoustic)
Calexico – Cascabel (live)

Pictures From Waterloo at Lucas School House

Here are some pictures of Waterloo’s show at Lucas School house on July 1, 2006. On the last song of the set, they invited Fred Friction, Cat Pick, and singer Mark Ray’s wife onto the stage to join in.