Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Jason Anderson! (The Not So Interview)


You know, it's funny how people get into music because there is something that is more than the surface feel typically. We associate, we groove, and of course... we have fun. It's also sad too in many aspects. Many people who read this site (self included), get into these indie snob tendencies where we can go to a show for a band/artist that we absolutely LOVE and see kids (or maybe ourselves) pretending not to have fun. You know (or are) these kids- crossed arms and too afraid to smile at the people who came there for the very reason they did... to have fun.

I can't lie, I have been in this place before. And I tell you the truth when I say this... breaking free and just letting loose and having fun is a great thing!


Enter Jason Anderson...



...someone who can get groups of people together and just get them back to the reason why we all started loving music in the first place, because it can both personal and fun...




...someone who can get people to enjoy music whether it be just himself and a guitar rallying a small group, or with a band rocking out in a packed club, Jason gets people back to honesty in the pure joy of having fun in music...


I asked Jason to get us back to speed with his current projects and let us know what music he has been listening to lately, and instead of doing a regular interview, I just let Jason tell us without anyone jumping in and asking a million questions and I think it came out awesome:

"i have some finished albums that will be coming out soon. the first one is called "tonight" and will come out in august on my friend dave's label, eca. i recorded this with my good friends in new england--friends who have been my band for the last two years or so--and everything was done pretty much live, down to one-taking the vocals. the energy is awesome, and, i think, comes closer than anything i've ever recorded to capturing the fun and passion i try to put into every single show i play, whether there are five people there or fifty. anyway, for this recording i also put a bulletin on myspace inviting anyone and everyone--up to fifty people, just due to space limitations--to come sing group parts."

Jason went on to say:

"it was amazing. friends--old and new--came from maine, vermont, new york and even pennsylvania; everyone made the trek to be a part of the music. i bought cookies, m & m's and name tags for everyone, and the recording took place in an old wooden gymnasium on an estate in central massachusetts. this was a really magical experience, and i felt so incredibly lucky to have all of these talented people sharing their voices and energy. they made the songs over one million times better than they probably deserve to be. it was just fantastic! ;one of the best days of the year. the second album will come out on k records in february. i recorded it last year in chicago, at soma studio, which is a really wonderful place. the guy who runs it, john mcentire is so friendly and helpful. my buddy felix--from germany!--played drums, and other friends helped out loads, too. there is some great pedal steel and lead guitar, and it has sort of a country-rock feel, whereas "tonight" is much more straight forward. this album is called "the hopeful and the unafraid" and has a lot of the songs i've been playing on tour for the last two years. songs i know by heart, and am excited to finally have on cd. the third project is called "hidden light/wilderness" or "wilderness/hidden light" and is a record of more introspective, mostly winter-based songs. i am so happy to have this album completed, as a nice counterpoint to the more uplifting, rocking sounds of the other two. it's another side of my songwriting, and gives a little bit of balance to the picture. i am not sure what label this will be on, although i have talked to some friends about it. a lot of the songs are very long and very wordy. poem songs. or something. there are also a few recorded concerts--both solo and with the band--that have been in consideration for a live album. oh, i also have a five song EP of songs that i recorded alone in one day, playing all the instruments. it sounds great. i'm hoping to release that somehow, maybe a self-release. i also have the next album written, but not recorded. i'm not sure when i'll record that, but i would like to do it quickly and sort of in the heat of the moment. i have been playing bass with my friend brian michael roff who is a great songwriter. he has a new album called "the underpainting" and it's a treat to sit in with him. i've been playing piano with other friends at their shows, too--with mara flynn, gregg porter, and guy capaceletro III; all pheonemal songwriters who i hope people will find out more about--which i always love getting a chance to do. last year i played drums at a few shows for my friends harry and the potters. that was so fun. i love those dudes for what they do and who they are."

Not only has Jason been busy in the musical endeavors of him and his friends, but was nice enough to also share what he has been listening to as well:

"today i drove from new york city back home to new hampshire and the cd's i listened to were gavin degraw 'chariot', pete yorn 'nightcrawler', j. geils band 'blow your face out LIVE' and the new "fellow project" album; they're a great band from long island. my new favorite musics are yukon, the new unreleased thanksgiving/adrian orange and her band album and i am always into van morrison. last night my friend and i downloaded some goo goo dolls, natasha bedingfield, the darkness and new radicals. as you can see/potentially laugh at, i like lots of different types of music."

In closing:

"personally, i think it is weird when people only listen to "indie rock," or any specific genre for that matter, with no room for anything outside of that. there is so much incredible stuff out there, even on the mainstream radio. down with guilty pleasures! embrace what you like! like what you like! anyhoo, i have been on tour pretty much straight for the last five years, and recently formed a mostly serious red hot chili peppers cover band called mother's milk. life is awesome!!! thank you again for this opportunity to talk a little about music."


The Not So Interviewed worked out so well, and once again, a HUGE thanks to Jason Anderson for being so awesome and taking the time out of his busy schedule to catch us up to speed!


Jason Anderson at K Records

ECA Records

Jason Anderson on Myspace (GO NOW!)

Jason's Virb Site

MALKY!


Stephen Malkmus turns 41 today! As long as his brain isn't fried enough to quit making great albums, we're gonna be ok!

Motion City Soundtrack...


You know you want to hate this band, but the truth is that they are just catchy. Anyway, they have a new album coming out this fall and Ric Ocasek from the Cars is gonna produce it. Now that singer dude and Ric can talk about how weird they look.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Smoosh


Although the idea of two sisters making great indie music wasn't corny enough, Seattle's Smoosh had added another sister, Maia (who had been playing on select songs beforehand) to handle added bass duties on their upcoming tour. Sure it will get even more corny, but that doesn't mean they won't continue to make great indie pop.

Congrats!


Alkaline Trio have finally found a label home at Epic Records. You know, I know that everyone likes Alkaline Trio but the truth is they are just plain good.

The Strokes...


The Strokes are reportedly going to be taking 2007 off. It's gonna be a good year!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

BOBBY!!!

Robert Allen Zimmerman, otherwise known as Bob Dylan, turns 66 today. Bob has given us some of the greatest music to ever come out of the past 100 years and if you are a Wallflowers fan, you are eternally endebted to him. Happy Birthday you old scary bastard!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Smashing Pumpkins Return to the stage...


With 7.7.07 coming soon, the Smashing Pumkins returned to peforming again the line up on stage was Bill Corgan (guitars, vocals), Jimmy Chamberlain (drums), Jeff Schroeder (Guitar), Ginger Reyes (Bass), and Lisa Harrington (keys). The set was mixed with both new and old material, and the crowd apparently went bonkers over it. Lucky them.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Seaweed


Tacoma's Seaweed, are reuniting to play this year's Bumbershoot Festival in Washington this year. They also plan on recording a new album too!

GigoloCore!



This guy who looks like Matt Dillon having bad cramps is actually our favorite Italian Gigolo look alike, John Mayer. According to John, his upcoming summer tour with Ben Folds is going to be a "laid-back" one.


...

But a tour with Ben Folds!?! The guy who covers Dr. Dre and sings such hits as "Rock This B!tch" is actually gonna be laid-back?


Maybe so, but look at this face and tell me he doesn't have something up his sleeve:

Can you take me higher...

Fleabag and fellow conspirator of making crap, Scott Stapp, had got his charges reduced by a Florida Judge the other day after throwing a bottle at his wife's head. What is even more shocking is how uneven his nostrils are... GEESH!

SNAP!

Paul Abdul was trying not to trip over her dog the other day, and somehow fell down and broke her nose! Ouch! That's not gonna help people think you are less crazy either!

Personally... I see it as a cover-up... all of it!

The crazyness, American Idol, broken noses, Emilio Estevez, all of it goes to covering up singing with a cartoon cat:




LTJ go solo

Less Than Jake left Warner/Sire the other day. Vinnie has said it is time for the band to go it alone, and made all kinds of references to what may be a re-evaluting of the band:

A few days ago it became "official" we left Sire and Warner bros to go it alone for the moment. A few months back we talked as a band and decided to ask Warner to release us from our contract and the one last record we owed them. It became obvious to me and everyone else that its time to move on and in a new direction as band. So cue the comments from the .net and .org crowds "they made a shitty last record", "maybe they'll have more horns on the next record", "they haven't done anything good since pezcore anyways", "they should have played more ska", "maybe they'll find a label that promotes the record" I've heard it and read it all before when we left Capitol records way back when. Hell, I could go point by point and defend or agree with everyone of the above statements but its not the right time to do that. The time right now is to look at things with a fresh prespective, look to the future- remember your history - move on. It seems obvious but sometimes when you're reaching for the other shore you drown in the middle somewhere. Thanks to everyone involved in the last few years, that gave their time, understanding and energy to less than jake.

Man, these guys have been on so many labels, Asian Man, Dill, No Idea, Fueled By Ramen, Fat Wreck Chords, Sire, Warner, Capitol, etc. etc.

Whatever the case... they should release another seven inch with Megadeth!


John Vanderslice



The Genius of all things Analog, John Vanderslice, has a new album called Emerald City coming out in July. It's only nine tracks, but I am sure it will be just as great as his other albums, with the following remix album to come up on tours too. I worked merch for him at a show last year, and I can say that not only is his music awesome, but as a person he is nothing but kind.

http://www.johnvanderslice.com

Friday, May 18, 2007

Jimmy Eat World

The JEW has a new record practically done, so Jim Adkins came on out and let us know what's up:


We have a mix date set for May 28th. Yes, there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. We just spent a week in Los Angeles tweaking out a few songs and stalking Tony from Sparta (we know what Starbucks you go to now, homz). We re-cut drums and bass for a song called "Here It Goes" with producer, John Fields. We will be working on art and getting all our new stage costumes together soon. How does human size banana suits sound? People would definitely ask us less questions about emo then.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Iggy Pop Movie...

The original wild child, Iggy Pop has a movie about him in the works. I remember when this dude was one of the neighbors' kids' dads on The Adventures of Pete and Pete, the best TV show nickelodeon ever had!

Tapped to play Iggy is none other than Elijah Wood, and I mean look at him, they are mirror images!


IGGY!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

ZZ Top? Cancels Tour?

ZZ Top cancelled their tour? I didn't even know they had enough fans to still go on tour. Dang.

G8 needs to G-Pay

Coolest person to ever have a mullet, Bono, is pretty anxious to be the debt collector for the G8 and he is doing this pretty righteously too.

The G8 promised 50 billion dollars of aid to go to Africa by 2010 and hasn't even give half of that. Being ever the statesman, Bono went to Germany to talk to the Chancellor there to see what could be fixed in the situation.

It seems that having a huge concert almost everyone in the world watched to raise money just isn't enough to combat the greed and plagues of poverty. Hopefully that will change.

Angels & Airwaves axes Bassist



You guys remember Angels & Airwaves? That dude from Blink-182 got off his skateboard and was all like "Dude, were are gonna be bigger than U2!", and then the album came out and we were all like "WHAT?!" Not to mention that album cover might have well been the cover to a Journey album...

Anyway, they kicked out their bass player and he was pissed...

"All I'll say as to why I was kicked out, the reasons I was given weren't at all honest, and severely hypocritical to the point of abhorrent disgust."

Not too amicable if you ask me. Anyway, since they are working on their new album, we here at the city got a sneak peak at the already finished album artwork:

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

I got to looking...

For those of you who don't know, http://www.thecitygetslonely.blogspot.com is the same thing as http://www.thecitygetslonely.com , and I got to looking around on the search engines, and we were quoted on SPIN's website:



http://www.spinrecords.com/features/everybodystalkingabout/2007/05/070511_spector/

You guys plugged this site, so we'll just come out and say that in a knife fight with Rolling Stone, we'll hold them down for you...

Monday, May 14, 2007

well...

I have absolutely no news on the Biz today, but I thought a picture so handsome could brighten your days and lighten your hearts...

Share This Place...

Love of my life, Mirah, has a new album coming out with the Black Cat Orchestra. According to Pitchfork, it is also supposed to be the side piece to a film called Credo Cigalia It has been some time since we have seen a proper Mirah album, although the remix cds were awesome!
There is gonna be a tour, and with gas prices going up, I am gonna be broke!

Friday, May 11, 2007

Finally...

Jenny Lewis finally got off the solo kick long enough so that Rilo Kiley can record a new album. No offense to the Elected or Jenny Lewis, but the whole is greater than its parts in this case. I think she may be working on the new postal service album, but I think I'd rather hear this stuff now. The album hits August 20th.

I will never cease to be amazed that half of this band were child actors. Them and Phantom Planet's stage kids should have an all actor band.


This dude is going to jail...

Although this guy might look like Chong, this is actually a picture of Phil Spector, who was accused of killing a Hollywood starlet. He has produced some of the greatest albums of all time, and apparently that also involves pointing guns at everyone! The latest person to claim such a thing... Blondie's Deborah Harry.



I think she found out he had a heart of glass.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

NPR, can I marry you?

NPR's Live Concert series has done it again:

This time they have a downloadable concert from Iceland's resident weirdo, Bjork.

The streaming has Modest Mouse, among others, and tonight is airing a Ben Gibbard solo performance.


Download or listen away at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4627437

The Fiery Furnaces hit the road again...




Brother and sister duo, and guilty pleasure, the Fiery Furnaces are hitting the road once again after a brief hiatus from touring...

06-21 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
06-22 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
06-23 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig
06-25 Toronto, Ontario - The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
06-26 Ottawa, Ontario - Barrymore's Music Hall (Capital Idea!)
06-28 Philadelphia, PA - North Star
06-29 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club0
6-30 Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell's
07-01 Brooklyn, NY - Studio B
07-05 Washington, DC - Black Cat
07-06 Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre
07-07 Atlanta, GA - The Earl

Groovie Ghoulies

After being around forever... The Groovie Ghoulies have decided to not make any more pop punk for us. Dang. No word of why other than it was just time to go seperate ways.

why?



Europop band Rednex, who had a technocountry (yeah, really) hit in the 1990's with "Cotton Eye Joe" are deciding to selling themselves on ebay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Rednex-The-Band-Is-For-Sale_W0QQitemZ300106593516QQihZ020QQcategoryZ50973QQssPageNameZWDVW

Okay, who would want to buy the rights to three gay cowboys and what I am pretty sure was someone who used to be a dude...?


hmmm....

Prince's stank...

Incredibly well skilled songwriter, Prince, has announced not only a new tour, but his own fragrance. WHY!? You're weird enough as it is Prince, please just don't give us your weird stanky fragrance... and what is that? a microphone gun!? seriously!

PLEASE!!!

Ozzy is thinking of retiring after OzzFest this year! GOOD!

Smashing Pumpkins meet Christian rock?

So... we know James Iha isn't down for the reunion of the pumkins. Rumor has it though, that one of the girls from punk band the Halo Friendlies (yes, the name is taken from the Damien Jurado song) will be on bass and the Lassie Foundation's foundation's guitar player are coming into the fold, both of which have their roots in the Christian music scene of the late 1990's...

Last I heard Lassie Foundation was on Velvet Blue, due to their Jeff Cloud (Joy Electric, SF59) connection and the Halo Friendlies broke up when they got signed to Warner. Hmmm....

Corgan has been notably more vocal about his faith in the past years which is pretty evident on the Zwan album (which is amazing!) and has helped out bands like Blindside and Sleeping At Last.

Whatever the case, people are just looking forward to a good album, so please give us that Billy.

Blair and Bragg

So... we don't stay too political on here unless it pertains to music somehow. Tony Blair resigned today, and rather me say something about, check out what Billy Bragg had to say about it...

from NME:

Tony Blair has announced today (May 10) that he will stand down as the British Prime Minister.Speaking from his constituency of Sedgefield the Labour leader admitted he will leave office on June 27. With no major competition anticipated it is expected he will be replaced as Prime Minister by current Chancellor Of The Exchequer, Gordon Brown.Following confirmation of Blair's departure, singer-songwriter and political campaigner Billy Bragg gave NME.COM his verdict on the Prime Minister's ten years in charge. "In 1997 when Blair was elected we lived in a time of possibilities," explained Bragg. "Some of those possibilities have been realised like the right for gay people to get involved in a civil union, the minimum wage, getting the hereditarys [peers] out of the House Of Lords and I've been pleased by those."However Bragg believed one major issue would taint the Prime Minister's legacy - Iraq."Obviously it'd all been overshadowed by the war and by Blair's failure to stop George Bush," he declared. "I think he relied on his abilities to have some leverage with the Americans but I think we're all painfully aware now how little that really worked, that's going to overshadow everything."

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Electrelane



Man, I wish I could see this band right now. They might not hit all the notes, but who cares.

CocoRosie, CocoBusted...

Indie's favorite weirdo sisters, CocoRosie, had to cancel their tour because they got arrested. I have no clue what they did, but I am pretty sure it was really really weird. If you have ever seen CocoRosie, and I have, you will know that it's not just their albums that are kind of missing some screws too.

Garrison did well...


I can't believe, but the timid laid back tea-sipping Garrison Keeler from NPR's "Prairie Home Companion" has got a great guest lined up this weekend... Wilco! Check your local NPR for airtimes.

Seed of Chucky!


The man who was by most considered the soul of Hot Water Music, Chuck Ragan, has four recording sessions available on itunes under "The BluePrint Sessions". Chances are, if The Draft let you down, you will be eating this up.

http://www.myspace.com/chuckragan

Discover America


Former TwoThirtyEight frontman, Chris Staples, who has released a few solo albums and one under his current moniker, Discover America, has a released a new EP under the latter name, which you can purchase, download for download, over at Discover America's myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/discoveramerica


Do it.

well well well...

Blur (who look pretty fruity in the above picture) have decided to give in to what people have asked, and apparently got Graham Coxon to agree to rejoin the group on their next recording. Members of the band have been quoting as saying that they would break up if it doesn't work. Now, pay attention to bands like Neutral Milk Hotel, The Promise Ring, and My Bloody Valentine:
We care about your music more, so please get back together!

Particle Man...

They Might Be Giants are set to release a new album "The Else" sometime in July, and given their track record, it will be amazing.

Pearl Jam live... again...


Pearl Jam is set to release "Live at the Gorge", a 76 song, 7-disc live outing. Considering that they have literally 80 live albums and all of their shows for at least 3 years are available for download you would literally have to be insanely in love with this band or just plain stupid to think that this will have any suprises at all. I like Pearl Jam alot, but bumping up your live discography only makes those waiting to another new album feel like listening to emo or some other kind of sad bastard music.

New Order


New Order broke up. They started in 1980 and you can't name one of their songs off the top of your head, even if you listened to them. Why announce this then? Just fade away.