Nearly 10 years ago I went to the TisWas party at Don Hill’s with my friend Mikey Way and we saw this band called Cactus Patch from DC. The thing that surprised us the most about Cactus Patch was that they were one of the only bands we’d ever seen at this party by this point (1999) that was actually really good. So I joined their mailing list and a year or two later they changed their name to Army of Me, and I remain on their mailing list to this day.
So last night it was such a joy to go to see them at Bowery Ballroom, which is one of my favorite venues in NYC. I took a bunch of photos and so here they are: Read more »
I really love Jared Leto drama. Like, it’s so great and everyone thinks he’s a douchebag, and has all these great stories, and I met him once at Sundance and he was nice to me cos he was trying to get with my friend… and oh look, he heard the kids were really into Mindless Self Indulgence. Whatevs, I’d still hit it.
Were you unable to attend this years Coachella festival like I was? Well, then maybe you were as wonderfully surprised as I was when you found out that Prince covered Radiohead’s “Creep.” Radiohead were too, and they wanted to see clips on YouTube like the rest of us BUT COULDNT!
Fiddy’s house caught fire. Six people were hospitalized and thankfully, nobody was killed. Police are suspecting arson.
The delightful folks at NPR recorded the Raconteurs live from the 9:30 club in DC. You might want to pee before listening to avoid inability to leave computer for an hour and a half because of rock overload. [MusicIsMyBoyfriend]
The movie about the Germs starring Shane West is coming out in August, says Billboard. I’m guessing the remaining members of the Germs are either broke, bored, or really like Shane West’s portrayal of Germs’ singer, Darby Crash, since they played in a band together for a bit.
Buzzgrinder has some great stuff from a newish band called Javelins.
BrooklynVegan has a list of all the great performances happening at the today show this Summer. Including: Rihanna, Coldplay, and Ashlee Wentz.
By the way, my friend Angela and I were trying to think of what Pete and Ashlee Wentz were going to name their baby. Here are some of the ideas:
Morrissey or Moz Wentz, Bowie Wentz, Wentzel Wentz, Panic! Wentz, Rainer Maria Wentz, Homer Simpson-Wentz. What do you think it’ll be?
Posted in The Fillmore on May 29th, 2008 by Ultragrrrl
NYLON magazine continues it's foray into all things cool by sponsoring a very hip evening of bands including Switches, the Virgins, Be Your Own Pet, and eccentric LA mavericks, She Wants Revenge. Sadly, I missed Switches and the Virgins, but present to you a night in photos:
Be Your Own pet were a frantic energy of music and spazz. Singer Jamina Pearl was much more the punk ballerina at this show than when I saw her a couple years ago while she had long blonde hair. They reminded me of this super small band from the UK called Cay that I'm sure nobody has heard of. Read more »
First of all, some fantastic news regarding Gay Rights in the state of New York: Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada. I find the fact that Gay marriages are not recognized to be a total disregard for the separation of Church and State. What a great step forward. More at The New York Times.
Oh, what a fantastic thing to watch when you’re just feeling a wee bit not-your-self: ArjanWrites posted a video of Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning from the Killers (duh), performing “Planet Earth” live, on stage, with Duran Duran! How fucking cool is that? Click here for more info and you can watch the video above.
Jake and Jeff Turner from Say Anything are in a band together called XO (probably after one of the best Elliott Smith albums), and they just posted a new song.
Pete and Ashlee Wentz are expecting a baby. Shocker. Congrats to them!
Your other most favorite French electronic geniuses, Daft Punk, are in the studio. That makes me a happy happy person.
Pitchfork has an interview with Free Kitten — the band consisting of Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Pussy Galore’s Julie Cafritz. Merow.
I love both Japanese people and Mariah Carey’s obsession with wearing heels all the time. Thankfully, both those things are in a video I found on Idolator of Mariah Carey throwing out the first pitch at a baseball game.
Also on Pitchfork, some good news for Nick Snow: The Wrens have a new song out! It’s available on some sort of compilation that’s about net neutrality and features songs from Bright Eyes, Wilco, and Palomar. More info at Pitchfork.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are going on what’s rumored to be the last tour for the group. ProductShopNYC has the details of where you can see them.
Little known fact: Indierockers LOVE to dance to TI’s “What You Know About That.” Can’t wait to hear what TI tracks will be blowing up this summer? MTV has em!
Coheed & Cambria is totally for nerdy comic book fans, so the singer, Claudio, has started a new comic strip called Kill Audio. It’s up on a myspace page, so the best part of that is reading all the comments people leave. Ca Ca Ca reepy.
Idolator has a hilarious take on the not-Bonos throughout pop music… and even includes Remy Zero in the mix, which was thoughtful of them. I had attempted a similar thing back in 1999 with not-Radioheads, and even interviewed Matt Bellamy from Muse about it. Man, I wish I could find that interview.
I think the Sex Pistols go on a World Tour about once every 3 years, so like, if you see them or you don’t see them, by the time there’s another Presidential election, Johnny Rotton will be looking for ways to get in front of your face. Pitchfork has the details of their tour and live DVD.
Almack’s correspondent, Dena Singer, was lucky as all hell to attend Friday’s Van Halen show at MSG. Sadly she didn’t have her camera, but you really hardly need photos when she’s writing:
On my walk over to Madison Square Garden this past Friday night, I realized I left my fucking camera at home. I noticed this horrifying fact as I was scrambling to take pictures of the esteemed Van Halen fan base entering the arena. So many suede boots! So many male ponytails! So many hockey jerseys! I was empty handed in what clearly could have been some of the top photographic moments of the year.
Listen to the The Futureheads‘ new album, “This Is Not The World,” a week early on SPINNER.COM. The album is out on June 3rd.
Also, check out this great interview with Barry from the Futureheads discussing the launch of their own label on Boing-Boing.net
Kerli is an Estonian singer whose career — and I say this as one of the biggest compliments I could ever give a person — seems as if it were modeled after the Bjork-written-Madonna-performed song, “Bedtime Story.” Between the song and the video, that shit was basically incredible and groundbreaking and unreal. I mean, Bjork was pretty underground at the time and Madonna was at the most cutting edge and experimental and cool of her career and they collaborated…. and anyway, focus: This video and song for Kerli’s “Walking on Air” is basically what you just read.
More music videos — these funny ones — on youtube: Hilarious Facebook rap:
This bob dylan spoof is even funnier:
One of my favorite new bands, Jukebox the Ghost, are supporting the Wombats at the Blender Theater on June 3. I think we’ll definitely be there.
Remember the good ol’ mixtape? These days we have muxtape, which is fun, but mixtapes were exceptional! Jim Shearer, one of the nicest vjs on mtv, discusses the art of the mixtape on IFC.com
Speaking of… check out Erica Dagley’s summer mix. It’s so fucking good!
Almack’s correspondent Danielle Reicherter was luckier than I to be in NYC when the Long Blondes played NYC. Below is her coverage of the show and photos of the most beautiful girls in indie:
“Zis map iz so small, I can’t figure it owt!” The German man to my right looked at me for help, but unfortunately I wasn’t of much assistance. A Philly girl such as myself should be used to deciphering subway systems, but I was having trouble figuring where I needed to switch from the J Train to the line I needed. Read more »
NiN and goth icon, Peter Murphy, teamed up to do a cover of “Warm Letherette” that is pretty fucking amazing.
Nightmare of You are trucking along all over the country playing a tour, and you can keep track of them via Twitter. Check out this video interview of them, and listen to this radio interview podcast thing.
KarenPlusOne’s Bamboozle Blog is finally up on RecCenter. I think it’s comedy gold, but that might just be because it was like reading a diary entry I forgot to make.
People love live-blogging American Idol and I love reading their live-blogs the next day. Here’s Idolator’s and Junk-Mag’s recap of the season finale. In the end, I was glad that of the two David’s Cook was the winner. He was more of a showman, than the kiddie. Also, doesn’t David Archuletta look like the second runner up to the UK’s version POP Idol Gareth Gates?
This is the cutest thing I’ve seen all week: A sleep baby bear. OMGOMGOGMOGMG. Kill me, that is just too fucking cute for words. I wanna barf on my laptop so I can think about something less cute than that.
So Sonic Youth are putting out an album via $tarbucks of a compilation of songs that were chosen by bands and people like Radiohead, David Cross, Dave Eggers, and Beck. I guess so that’s so people can say that a certain non-hit SY song is their favorite because Radiohead also likes it and that means they didn’t have to dig deep into the SY catalog to find it. Whatever. Anyway, it took me about 4 reads to understand the concept that Stereogum laid out for me. I think I’m dumb… or maybe just happy.
Posted in New Releases on May 20th, 2008 by Ultragrrrl
Islands - Arm S Way, Anti
The National - A Skin, A Night + The Virginia, Beggars Banquet
Felix Da Housecat - Milan, Global Underground
French Kicks - Swimming, Vagrant
Lil Wayne - Milli/Lollipop, Universal
3 Doors Down - 3 Doors Down, Universal Republic
Alien Ant Farm - the Best of Alien Ant Farm - The Millennium Collection, Geffen
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits - Geffen
Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head, RAA
The B-52’s - Wild Planet, FLA
The Dresden Dolls - No, Virginia…, Roadrunner Records
Joe Walsh - But Seriously, Folks…, FLA
Resident class clowns of the indie world We Are Scientists, made this hilarious informercial about “Brain Thrust Mastery”. I wish every band was as funny as this.
Art space/music venue Galapagos is undergoing remodeling and it’s owners are looking to rename it. If you can think of an awesome new name, you could win a $1000 bar tab and free admission for you and a friend for a year. Brooklyn Vegan has the details.
Holy crap, some people realllly like New Kids on the Block. Best Week Ever did a little investigating on just what kind of people camp out for NKOTB tickets.
Liz Phair will be doing an acoustic performance of her hit album Exile in Guyville on June 25 at Hiro Ballroom. Tickets go on sale this Wednesday. Grrrl Power!
Dreamboat Doherty played in the Celebrity Soccer Six charity tournament this past week and here are some adorable pics of him and his son Astile. Look at those skinny jeans! Sorry you have to hear about P. Doh everyday, but its unavoidable when I’m in charge.
Tokyo Police Club have a kickass new video for their song “In a Cave”.
The apparently extremely marketable Santogold has an advertising deal with Bud Light. You can hear the surprisingly good remix, here.
Crystal Castles is going on tour, and playing a free show at Studio B! I’ve already seen them twice, and trust me its a show you don’t want to miss
Scarlett Johansson has an AOL Session video of her new song “Falling Down”. Its…uh…kind of painful. on Dlisted
Aaand we’re back on drugs. Check out Pete and Amy’s cracked out YouTube vids. Baby mice? I don’t even want to know. At least Pete makes a joke about Johnny Borrell and Amy uses a mouse to beg Blake not to divorce her.
FINALLY. A reality show for the rest of us hot trannys. RuPaul is on a search for Americas Next Top Drag Queen
The Raconteurs and Bon Iver have some awesome videos from their acoustic performance on Live with Jools Holland.
Are you a Morrissey fanatic and know that his birthday is coming up? Just can deal with the fact that you won’t be hearing another live show for awhile? Well, tribute band Sons and Heirs are playing May 22nd at Union Hall in celebration of Moz’s 49th bday. Music Slut has the deets.
Metallica has a new album coming out! Yay! or not yay if you don’t like Metallica. Spin.com has da exclusive scoop.
I can’t fucking believe that I forgot to post Andrew Borin’s fucking incredible Dolly Parton review. He’s so funny, that I think he will have his own column in the coming weeks on this blog. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll continue reading for his review AND a video from the night! WARNING: he wrote this while drunk. I didn’t ask him to re-edit it because then you’ll get to feel as fucked up as he was:
If you missed American Idol last night, you missed (and this is putting it mildly) one hell of a performance from former Idol contestant Fantasia Barrino. Too bad hers is the most exciting performance of the season thus far. Gawker has the vid.
Conor Oberst is realeasing a solo album, out on August 4th. I’m glad he’s branching out, it’ll be interesting to see how he fares now that he’s escaped from under the shadow of….all those other influential people in Bright Eyes.
Oh la la. Looks like Lily Allen has been doing some all over tanning work in the south of France. And I mean all over.
So…a “fat girl” finally wins America’s Next Top Model. Only Dlisted doesn’t think the fight was quite fair. Rumor has it that winner Whitney didn’t start out as the curvaceous babe she purports herself to be.
The latest installment of the addictive 3 1/3 Series that features in depth analysis of seminal albums in mini-book form is out with their latest installment (#56), Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality. Author John Darnielle will be doing a reading at Housingworks Used Book Cafe on Saturday at 7pm. Get out your devil horns.
We all remember the times we laid on the floor of our bedrooms and stare at album covers all day long, but did you ever wonder what was going on outside the frame? Well, this guy did and came up with some pretty hilarious ideas.
Hot Chip are going on tour….again! I would say that I’m getting tired of them…but their just too damn catchy. They are coming to NYC in October to Terminal 5 (best venue ever!….NOT). You can get more info on Spin.com
