Saddle Creek Adds two New Bands to Label

The Rural Alberta Advantage (top) UUVVWWZ (bottom)

Our favorite label out of Omaha just announced that they have signed two new bands and those two bands are The Rural Alberta Advantage from Toronto via Alberta and UUVVWWZ from Lincoln NE. Check out the tracks below to see if they are something you can get behind. And by "get behind" I mean buying their albums that are both coming out on July 7th and NOT jumping on their backs and scratching their eyes out...that would just be rude and uncalled for.

mp3's

The Rural Alberta Advantage - "Don't Haunt This Place"

UUVVWWZ - "Shark Suit"

Wilco - "Jolly Banker"

Wilco has made a new song available for download on their website. The song "Jolly Banker" was originally written and performed by Woody Guthrie. You can either choose to download the song for free or you can make a donation of your choice to the Woody Guthrie Foundation.

Download: Wilco - "Jolly Banker"

2009: The Year Of The Lady

There have been some amazing records released so far in 2009. It seems like week after week there is a new release that comes along and dominates my iTunes only to be replaced by another quality album the following week. The best part about the whole thing is that it's only April.

One thing I have noticed is that this year, so far, has been mostly dominated by the ladies. If I were to look at my top ten favorite releases so far this year seven out of ten would be from either a female soloist or a band fronted by a female singer.

St. Vincent, Micachu & The Shapes, Neko Case, Fever Ray, Laura Gibson are just a few of the women to put out amazing albums this year.

Don't get me wrong, there have been some great releases from the fellas as well. And, we're only five months into the year. I'm eagerly anticipating new releases from Grizzly Bear and Wilco who could help even out that top 10 list of mine. Just seems like this year seems to be a pretty female dominated year in terms of great albums.

What do you think?

Dinosaur Jr. - "I Want You To Know"

Check out the song "I Want You To Know" from Dinosaur Jr, which is off their latest album Farm.

mp3:
Dinosaur Jr.-"I Want You To Know"

The album Farm is available on 6/23 from Jagjaguwar.

Video: Sonic Youth-"What We Know"(Live on Jools Holland)

Sonic Youth make an appearance on Jools Holland's show to perform the track "What We Know" from their forthcoming album The Eternal.

You can pick up The Eternal when it is released on June 9th from Sub Pop.

Previously: Sonic Youth - "Sacred Trickster"(MP3)

video: Starfucker "Medicine"

Starfucker is dope, I have reviewed their album, their show at the Rhythm Room, their skills at Scrabble and interviewed them, let me tell you that the viewing of this new video has done NOTHING to make me change my feelings on the subject of their dopeness.

The Mots are from New Zealand

So in the course of my regular Wed afternoon ritual of searching for really good bands from New Zealand I discovered The Mots and now you should also...mostly because they are good and also because I said so and if you ask anybody I know I get really butt hurt when people don't do what I say.

British Sea Power - "Come Wander With Me"

British Sea Power have been recently completed work on providing a soundtrack for the re-release of the 1934 classic film The Man of Aran. The film is a dramatized documentary which portrays the hardships of life on the Aran Islands, which is located off the western coast of Ireland. The DVD/CD combo will be released on May 5th from Rough Trade.

mp3:
British Sea Power-"Come Wander With Me"

Wilco Has Named their New Album

I have been waiting with my breath held for this new album for a long time now so any new nugget of news lets me breath for a second. So they pulled out all the creative steps and came up with this NUCLEAR EXPLOSION of an album name "Wilco (the album)"
June 30 is the date to mark on your calendar.

Here's the track listing:

Wilco The Song
Deeper Down
One Wing
Bull Black Nova
You And I
You Never Know
Country Disappeared
Solitaire
I'll Fight
Sunny Feeling
Everlasting

John Vanderslice - "Too Much Time"

Here is another song from John Vanderslice's forthcoming album Romanian Names. The song "Too Much Time" is listed on Vanderslice's website as being one of his favorite tracks from the record. I personally like "Fetal Horses" more than I like this song. What do you guys think?

Romanian Names won't be out until May 19th but if you just can't wait that long you can pre-order the album here and get an immediate download of the album. Also, if you are one of the first 100, you'll recieve a limited-edition, letterpressed wallet containing a small snippet of analog tape which has unused music from the master recording of Romanian Names.


John Vanderslice - "Too Much Time"

For the locals, you can catch John Vanderslice with The Tallest Man On Earth when they play Modified Arts on June 28th.

pics: Flaming Lips at McDowell MT. Festival

So we were unable to attend this festival in person due to the fact that we didn't have tickets but our good friend Joey V tells us that it was pretty mind tripping (he had fungal assistance) He was kind enough to take some pics for us and then email them to me this morning so now I am posting them on this very internet website for you. I love it when a plan comes together!

There are some more pics on our Flickr page HERE

Tuesday Concert Calendar: Courtney Marie Andrews, Pretty & Nice

A couple of interesting shows tonight here in the valley of the sun. For you metal heads out there you've got Black Label Society along with Sevendust, Dope, and Cycle of Pain performing at Marquee tonight. Boston band Pretty & Nice hit up Modified Arts tonight and Baltimore based Abiku will be playing The Trunk Space.

My personal recommendation, however, is to head on over to The Lost Leaf Gallery for a free show featuring some of Phoenix's top musical acts. Tonight, River Jones Music will showcase some of their most talented acts including Courtney Marie Andrews, Michelle Blades, Zachary James Dodds, and You, Me, and Apollo. Courtney Marie Andrews is one of my favorite local musical acts. She recently contributed the track "Red Handed Aesthetic Attraction" to the compilation Phoenix: We Love It and it was hands down my favorite track on the album.

As always be sure to check out SilverPlatter.info for a list of all the concerts and events happening tonight in Phoenix.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Young Adult Friction [Slumberland]

Hey look, that skeleton is singing! This video was either directed by a director or not. I am not sure, but I like it non the less. Keep it real horny America!

New Music Tuesday: Crocodiles, Bob Dylan

It's a pretty slow week this week in terms of new releases.

One album that I've have heard and would highly recommend is the new album from Crocodile entitled Summer Of Hate. I have to admit that I'm not too familiar with the band but the album has been streaming in its entirety over at MBV and will be all week if you want to listen before you buy.

Also out this week is Bob Dylan's latest Together Through Life. This latest release is Dylan's 46th album.

Here are a few more recommendations for this week.

A Camp: Colonia

Crocodiles: Summer Of Hate

Bob Dylan: Together Through Life

Great Northern: Remind Me Where the Light Is

The Green Pajamas: Poison in the Russian Room

Wilco: Ashes of American Flags (dvd)

Miniature Tigers Perform On The Train Tracks

Just before embarking on their next tour around the country, local favorites Miniature Tigers hopped on the light rail and performed an acoustic version of their song "Last Night's Fake Blood" from their album Tell It to the Volcano. The performance was captured for one of my favorite websites The Train Tracks and is now available for your viewing pleasure.

You can also catch Miniature Tigers when they play The Phix along with Kevin Devine on May 15th.

Watch: Miniature Tigers - "Last Night's Fake Blood"

X-Men Origins: Wolverine World Premiere

Okay, okay, I know this isn't a movie blog, but Will.I.Am was there so it is loosely music related.

Shawn and I headed down to the world premiere of the new movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine. This was the first chance either of us had to go to a fancy pants Hollywood movie premiere, but hopefully not the last. I won't lie, there were parts of the premiere that were frustrating. We had to wait in line a lot and I felt crowd control could have been organized better. But, overall I thought the experience was awesome.

The crowd at Tempe Marketplace was really into the whole thing and hopefully convinced Fox executives to have other movie premiers here in Phoenix. The cast of the movie seemed very cool. Particularly, Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds. They just seem like bros we can hang out with.

The movie itself was pretty good. Way better then the last X-men movie, X-Men: The Last Stand. Although, this latest movie did rank pretty high on my cheese factor scale. Lots of summer blockbuster cliches. If you're into those sort of things, though, or you like the previous X-Men movies then I definitely recommend this one to you.

video: Flying - "Morning Song"

This video is just cool. I want to know how long it took to get all of that footage of horses going to sleep. No really Jeannie Simms please contact me and let me know how long that took. Did you shoot all the horses yourself or did you scour the "sleeping horse" database for hours?Check out Flying on tour with Deerhoof.

Or, The Whale Playing in Tucson

As you may or may not know we usually have a harsh words for bands that totally skip Phoenix but they are at least going to play in Tucson (Phoenix's little sister) so we are going to let is slide this time BUT ONLY THIS TIME Or, The Whale!!! Next time you better come to Phoenix, and I expect a pair of tickets to the show and a coupon for a deep tissue massage at the parlor of my choice. I guess you can listen to the this song and check out the rest of the dates below...I guess.

mp3
Or, The Whale: "Rope Don't Break"

OR, THE WHALE
May 20th--Silverlake Lounge--Los Angeles, CA
May 21st--The Viper Room--Los Angeles, CA
May 22nd--Beauty Bar--San Diego, CA
May 23rd--The Hangar(t)--Tucson, AZ
May 25th--Hi-Dive--Denver, CO
May 26th--Kilby Court--Salt Lake City, UT
May 27th--Visual Arts Collective--Boise, ID
May 28th--Red Room--Kennewick, WA
May 29th--Tractor Tavern--Seattle, WA
May 30th--Doug Fir--Portland, OR
June 5th--Sophia's--Davis, CA

Nite Jewel Coming to Phoenix!

I love me some Nite Jewel so that makes me wet with anticipation for the upcoming musical performance by Nite Jewel at Modified Arts on Jun 17th for what I can only imagine will be a hot and sweaty affair I shall not miss. Oh and they are also going on a tour for you non Phoenix types with Telepathe and Abe Vigoda (the band, not the actor or dog from Gilmore Girls)Here are the tour dates and listen to the song below as a "thank you" for reading all the way to the bottom of this paragraph.

mp3:
Nite Jewel: Weak For Me

NITE JEWEL
May 28 2009 The Smell Los Angeles, California
Jun 04 2009 Oasis Oakland, California
Jun 05 2009 Aunty Mo's Eureka, California
Jun 07 2009 Northern Olympia, Washington
Jun 09 2009 Biltmore Cabaret Vancouver, British Columbia *
Jun 10 2009 Chop Suey Seattle, Washington *
Jun 11 2009 Holocene Portland, Oregon *
Jun 12 2009 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco, California *
Jun 13 2009 The Smell Los Angeles, California *#
Jun 16 2009 Detroit Bar Costa Mesa, California *
Jun 17 2009 Modified Arts Phoenix, Arizona *

* = w/ Telepathe
# = w/ Abe Vigoda

Video: Doom - "Microwave Mayo"

I love fan made videos. Sometimes even more so than videos directed by "professional" directors. There is just something so cool about the DIY nature of the video. Take, for instance, this video directed by Dallas Penn, for the song "Microwave Mayo" from Doom (formerly MF Doom). Penn takes a classic concept of filming a lawn gnome in front of different places and updates it by taking a Doctor Doom action figure and filming it in various locations around New York City. Awesome!

The song "Microwave Mayo" is from the album Born Like This available now from Lex Records.

[via: nah right]

The Streets - "Outside In"

The Streets have released almost a full albums worth of material via Mike Skinner's Twitter. The latest track to come from Skinner is "Outside In", which you can download below.

Download: The Streets - "Outside In"

Monday Concert Calendar:

Hi everyone. How was your weekend? Mine was good, thanks for asking. What's going on tonight in Phoenix, you ask? Well, not much. Not much going on today in general. But for those of you going out tonight, here is a list of recommended shows. Be sure to check out SilverPlatter.info for a list of all the shows and events happening in Phoenix tonight.

Who: Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Michael McKean
Where: Dodge Theatre
When: 8:00 PM Showtime
How Much: Tickets $40-$50
Why: Do you like the movie Spinal Tap? How about A Mighty Wind or Waiting For Guffman? If you said yes then this show is for you. The creative geniuses behind those movies and all around funny guys Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean will be performing songs from all of those movies and more.

video: Deerhoof "Numina"

Numina is the new video from Deerhoof's new album Offend Maggie. Directed by Kate Hall, formerly of Mika Miko. I like when things are upside down because it makes me feel like I am a bat, or maybe even a possum. And they have both of those things in Australia and they also both sleep all day and party all night.

White Denim - "Mirrored and Reverse"(MP3)

Imagine my disappointment when one of my favorite bands, White Denim, roll into town and play at Modified Arts and I can't attend. I was so bummed. Sure, I had an important reason not to be at the show but that didn't help any with my sour mood that night.

Well, at least now I have some good news to help me forget about all of that. Well, sort of. White Denim are set to release their latest album Fits on June 22nd on the UK label Full Time Hobby. That's great news for those in the UK but unfortunately and for reasons I can not comprehend White Denim still does not have a US record label. On the bright side, however, we've got the an mp3 from the album courtesy of NME. Listen to "Mirrored and Reverse" down below.


White Denim - "Mirrored and Reverse"

[via: NME]

mp3: What's Up "Harper"

So I have never heard of What's Up? till today but I can tell you that from what I have heard from them so far on the 3 songs on their MySpace and the new song below they are pretty crazy but in a good way. They have tagged themselves as "Neo Soul/Fusion" on their MySpace page but I have no idea what that means so I wouldn't get to involved trying to explain them to your mom or anything. Just check out the songs and if you are going to Superfest in Portland on June 28th you can check them out live. They also have a new album coming out on May 19th called Content Imagination from Obey Your Brain

What's Up "Harper"

Weekend Concert Calendar: Okkervil River, Flaming Lips

I'm running low on time today but I wouldn't want to deprive you loyal readers of your weekend concert calendar. Be sure to check out SilverPlatter.info for a full list of shows and events going on this weekend.

Here is our recommended concerts for this weekend:

Friday

McDowell Mountain Music Festival @ WestWorld of Scottsdale

Okkervil River, Austin Gibbs, Underwater Getdown @ ASU Campus (free show!!!)

Courtney Marie Andrews with Lanterns @ People Mover

Saturday

Black Kids with Mates of State @ The Clubhouse

McDowell Mountain Music Festival Day 2 @ West World of Scottsdale

The "Real" Cochella @ The Trunk Space

Dry River Yacht Club @ Yucca Tap Room

Sunday

Matt Costa @ The Martini Ranch

UB40 @ The Celebrity Theatre

Video: Kanye West - "Amazing"

Here is the new video from Kanye West for his song "Amazing" directed by Hype Williams. The video was filmed on location in Hawaii. I'll admit the landscapes seen in the video do look pretty amazing.

The song "Amazing" is from the album 808s & Heartbreak available now on Roc-A-Fella Recoreds.

[via: pitchfork]

Girl Talk Might Make Whole Songs...Kinda

Greg Gillis did an interview and said he has been "refining" his sound and the next album will have less jumping around through 9 million different song parts and focus on whole song structures with chorus's n' stuff. I might be jumping the gun when I say this but isn't that just going to be the same thing people like Danger Mouse already did and stopped doing a few years ago. I mean his style is what makes it so awesome. But then again I am sure he is going to find a way to make me want to shake my fat ass on the dance floor, or at least annoy my wife in the car. So I will withhold judgment till I hear it with my own ears. Your Welcome Girl Talk...your welcome.

via prefixmag.com

Video: Pterodactyl - "December"

Check out this video from the band Pterodactyl for their song "December" which is from their album Worldwild available now on Jagjaguwar. This is the perfect video to watch if you were ever curious if you had epilepsy.

The Streets - "A Blip On A Screen"

Here is another new track from The Streets made available from Mike Skinner via his Twitter. Download it below.

Download: The Streets - "A Blip On A Screen"

Lollapalooza 2009 Line Up

click on poster for large size

Holy Crap that's alot of fine fine bands. I am REALLY trying to figure out how to make it to Chicago for Lalla this year. Come on man Animal Collective and Tool in the same festival. This makes Cochella look like my dead grandmas funeral, I might have to sell both of my kidneys AND kiddies to finance this shit but I think we can all agree that it would be worth it. I would sell my liver but I think by the time I got back it would not be worth much.

They even made a neat little video to celebrate this awesomeness



Lollapalooza

Blank Dogs Announce New Album

Genre defiling Brooklyn band Blank Dogs have a new double vinyl (just one CD though) album coming out on June 2nd on In the Red Records and they even made a creepy ass video for it (below) If you are interested in this sort of thing I will give you the track listing below this paragraph that you can read.

Blank Dogs
Under and Under

1. No Compass
2. L Machine
3. Night Night
4. Open Shut
5. Setting Fire To Your House
6. Around The Room
7. Blue Lights
8. The New Things
9. Falling Back
10. Tin Birds
11. Slowing Down
12. Face Watching
13. Books
14. Nothing UGC
15. From Here

Burning Down Your House

Iron and Wine - "The Trapeze Swinger"

[photo by Kim Black]

On May 19th Sub Pop Records will release a new collections of songs from Iron and Wine entitled Around The Well. The collection of songs will span from the bands '02 debut album The Creek Drank to the '07 album Sheperd's Dog and other out-of-print and never before released songs. The albums title comes from a line in the song "The Trapeze Swinger" which was featured on the soundtrack to the film In Good Company. Iron and Wine has been a long time favorite of mine and I'm very much looking forward to this new collection. Check out the song "The Trapeze Swinger" below.

mp3:
Iron and Wine-"The Trapeze Swinger"

Wednesday Concert Calendar: Afrika Bambaataa, War On Drugs

A couple of interesting shows tonight in Phoenix with The War On Drugs playing Modified Arts and What Laura Says Thinks and Feels playing Vig but the show I'm most interested in seeing tonight would have to be Afrika Bambaataa. Be sure to check out SilverPlatter.info for a full list of shows and events happening tonight in Phoenix.

Who: Afrika Bambaataa
Where: The Bar Smith
When: 9:00 PM Showtime
How Much: $10
Why: Afrika Bambaataa is a hip-hop pioneer and a major influence on many of today's biggest and best in the rap game. He's also considered by many to be the father of the electro funk sound. No argument from anyone here.

Pink Mountaintops - "While We Were Waiting"

Here is another new track from the forthcoming album from Pink Mountaintops entitled Outside Love. The new track "Wile We Were Waiting" features some great vocals from Ashley Webber. If you like what you hear you can also stream the new album in its entirety over at Pink Mountaintops' Myspace page.


Pink Mountaintops - "While We Were Waiting"

The album Outside Love will be available 5/5 on Jagjaguwar.

Previously: Pink Mountaintops - "Vampire"

Ear Pwr Announce Tour but no Phoenix :-(

Baltimore party monsters Ear Pwr are going on a tour. A tour that doesn't come to Phoenix, but considering the poor turnout for fellow Baltimorian Dan Deacon on Monday I don't blame them. But that doesn't make is any less disappointing now does it? IF you are one of the lucky people that live in any of the cities they ARE going to I expect you are in store for a good time. The tour kicks off May 2nd in Brooklyn with Adventure joining them on several dates...just check it out for yourself:

May 2nd - Brooklyn, NY @ Union Docs
May 13th - Chapel Hill, NC @ The Nightlight
May 17th - Baltimore, MD @ The Zodiac*
May 19th - Brooklyn, NY @ Death By Audio*
May 22nd - Washington, D.C. @ Comet Ping Pong*
May 23rd - Philadelphia, PA @ Pilam*
May 24th - New York, NY @ Cake Shop*
May 25th - Providence, RI @ Min Pin 4 Ever
May 26th - Boston, MA @ Church of Boston
May 27th - Kittery, ME @ Buoy Gallery
May 28th - Montreal, QC @ Zoo Bizarre
May 29th - Toronto, ONT @ Primary Color Presents
May 30th - Detroit, MI @ Division Street Boutique
May 31st - Chicago, IL @ Ronny's
June 1st - Milwaukee, WI @ Cactus Club
June 3rd - Kansas City, MO @ The Pistol Social Club
June 4th - Denver, CO @ Rhinoceropolis
June 6th - Seattle, WA @ Healthy Times Fun Club
June 7th - Olympia, WA @ Northern
June 10th - Portland, OR @ Holocene*
June 12th - San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern*
June 13th - San Jose, CA @ Nickel City Arcade*
June 14th - Los Angeles, CA @ Space 15 Twenty (Daytime show 1pm)*
June 14th - Los Angeles, CA @ BBQ at Art and Mayhem (Afternoon show 4 - 10 p.m.)*
June 15th - Los Angeles, CA @ Pehrspace*
June 16th - Irvine, CA @ Acrobatics Every Day*
June 19th - Austin, TX @ Beauty Bar*
June 20th - Dallas, TX @ The Handsome Kitten*
June 21st - Houston, TX @ Mango's Cafe*
June 22nd - New Orleans, LA @ Saturn Bar*
June 23rd - Little Rock, AK @ Rad Hizzy*
June 24th - Knoxville, TN @ Pilot Light*
June 25th - Asheville, NC @ Mo Daddy's*
June 26th - Atlanta, GA @ 529*
June 27th - Durham, NC @ The Pin Hook*
June 28th - Greenville, NC @ Spazz Haus*
June 29th - Charlottesville, VA @ Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar*
June 30th - Baltimore, MD @ The Zodiac*

* with Adventure

Super Animal Brothers III is out May 5th via Carpark Records
EAR PWR: Future Eyes

Dan Deacon @ The Clubhouse 4/20/2009

Last night was crazy! My ears are still ringing and my mind is just becoming un-melted. I can now officially say that Dan Deacon and Ensemble put on the most sensory effing show I have ever been to. We walked out of there hot and bothered in a good way. Let me give you a little re-cap of the "activities" that we did. We closed our eyes and spun around in circles bumping into each other like excited atoms, there was much "fancy dancing" and I got to run the gauntlet an experience my shoulders are still sore from (I will be posting up some videos of the fancy dancing and beginning of the gauntlet later today)

The sound was awesome, the Ensemble are a great addition to the live show and I can't imagine Dan even NOT having them or some variation in the future. Once you have 3 drummers playing 3 separate parts all at the same time and doing it perfectly in sync with the "electronic" music is the balls and something everyone should see.

I was surprised at the low turnout but the people that did show up had tons of energy so even though there was a ton of empty space behind us once you were smashed up front with everybody you felt like you were at the front of a 100 thousand strong crowd. Check out some pictures (more pics HERE) of Dan and the opening bands Teeth Mountain and Future Islands who were also both pretty dang good, I didn't get a whole lot of Dan since he was down on the floor and I am short, but I did my best ;-) Oh and Dan was cool enough to do an interview with us before the show...we are going to have that up tomorrow. Check out all the pics after the break.

Video: King Khan & The Shrines - "Land Of The Freak"

The song "Land Of The Freak" is from the album What Is?! which was just released today(4/21) via Vice Records.

[via: Pitchfork]

New Music Tuesday: Camera Obscura, Cage The Elephant, Art Brut

Out this week is the latest album from the Scottish group Camera Obscura. The album, My Maudlin Career, was labeled under the "best new music" category and given an 8.3 by Pitchfork. I had a chance to stream the album thanks to NPR the other day and from what I heard this should definitely be one to pick up this week.

Other albums to check out this week are Art Brut's latest Art Brut vs. Satan, Janes Addiction's Cabinet Of Curiosities Box Set, and King Khan and The Shrines' re-released album What Is?!

Also out today is Depeche Mode's latest Sounds Of The Universe which Amazon is selling for only $3.99 if you buy the mp3 album. Hey, we got pay bills too, ya know.

Here is a list of our recommended new releases available this week.

Art Brut: Art Brut vs. Satan

Brakesbrakesbrakes: Touchdown

The Breeders: Fate To Fatal

Cage The Elephant: Cage the Elephant

Camera Obscura: My Maudlin Career

Cryptacize: Mythomania

Depeche Mode: Sounds Of The Universe

Empire of the Sun: Walking on a Dream

Jane's Addiction: Cabinet of Curiosities (3 CD/1 DVD)

King Khan & The Shrines: What Is?!

Okkervil River: Pop Lie

Super Furry Animals: Dark Days/Light Years