1990's Indie Rock Is Alive and Well... ...In Paris -- Wonderflu

"Fine Now"

Seattle, Washington.  Amherst, Massachusetts.  Paris, France.  One of those cities doesn't necessarily qualify as an indie rock stronghold of the early to mid-1990's.

Well, Wonderflu are a Parisian quartet with a sound steeped in the power chords and guitar solos of post-Nevermind indie rock.  Like Amherst's California X, Wonderflu draw heavily on the sounds of Nirvana and Blue Album-era Weezer on their upcoming EP No End In Sight.

You can stream the first track from the EP over at the band's Soundcloud page.  If you happen to be in Paris on March 14th, you can head to the record release show over at Espace B.  Otherwise, you can just grab the EP from the band's website on that same day.

Waxahatchee, Bob Mould

I Did Some Reviews and Met One of My Idols

I put a couple of reviews up at Speak Into My Good Eye this week.

First, I listened to the new album from Waxahatchee, Cerulean Salt, via the stream currently available over at NPR.  I loved the record almost as much as I loved American Weekend, and I'm really enjoying Waxahatchee's new, full-band sound.

Second, I attended the first night of Bob Mould's two-night run at New York City's Bowery Ballroom and wrote a review.  What I didn't mention in that review was that I had a chance to meet Mould and the rest of the band after the show, which was a real thrill for me.  After playing a long and animated set, Mould, Jon Wurster, and Jason Narducy couldn't possibly have been more gracious and friendly.  It was a great end to a fantastic evening.

Go check those out if you're interested.

Bob Mould and the band are doing another show at Bowery Ballroom tonight, and then they'll be appearing on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon tomorrow before taking their tour Down Under.

Here they are performing Silver Age single, "The Descent," live on WFUV last year.

The National Announce Dates, New Record

Next Album Slated for May

The National took to social media today to announce some new tour dates in addition to their hometown performance at Brooklyn's Barclay's Center with Youth Lagoon in June.  They'll be joined by Dirty Projectors for several of the newly-announced shows.

In addition, the band announced that their next album is coming in May, though they haven't yet given a title or the exact date.

Alligator, Boxer, and High Violet would all get spots on my favorite albums list; and CoolMom and I had one of our most enjoyable concert experiences seeing The National at The Bell House just before High Violet's release.  It would be great if another tune-up show like that popped up as a local alternative to the Barclay's mega-show.

I'm pretty sure I've posted this before; but, for those of you that know her, see if you can't spy CoolMom in this video just as Matt comes down from the stage.

Coming Around Edition (and Ducktails)

Get Well Friday (and Ducktails)

I think I'm finally getting over this cold / flu thing or whatever it is.  That's good because there's quite a bit of stuff going on this weekend and coming up over the next several weeks.

CoolMom and I are heading out to see Thanks and Accidental Seabirds at the Berkeley in Asbury Park tonight (Price: FREE).  The whole family is taking a trip up to the Medieval Times Lyndhurst Castle tomorrow.  And we've got the usual slate of kids' activities on both Saturday and Sunday.

Late February and early March are packed with shows I'd like to see, some of which I've already got tickets for, so it will be interesting to see how many I can make.

In unrelated news, Ducktails released a video for The Flower Lane standout, "Letter of Intent," over at Rolling Stone.

Maybe I'll see you at the Berkeley tonight, and...

Rock on.

New Stuff This Week: The Men, DIIV, Waxahatchee, Screaming Females

New Music / New Videos Mega Post

Lots of new stuff from bands that I love over the last day or so.

The Men gave us, "I Saw Her Face," the latest single off of their upcoming New Moon.  It's got the Stones-y, classic rock twang of much of the material on 2012's Open Your Heart.



DIIV released the NSFW video for  "Wait" off of their excellent Oshin.



And New Jersey's tireless Don Giovanni Records gave us two new things:  "Coast to Coast," another song off of what sounds like it will be Waxahatchee's great, full-band follow up to American Weekend, and the awesome video for Screaming Females' Chalk Tape track, "Poison Arrow."





Enjoy.

Finally Home and a New Album Review

Cold with a Cold

After about ten days straight of travel for business and pleasure, I'm back home in frigid New Jersey.  This cold that I acquired along the way is really dampening my happiness at being able to sleep in my own bed, but I'll deal with it like I always do:  whine and complain to CoolMom and to anyone else who will listen until it's gone.

I did manage to cobble together a review of the very first solo album by one of my guitar heroes, Johnny Marr, for Speak Into My Good Eye.  Check that out if you like.

I feel like I missed out on quite a bit while I was gone, but there are some interesting things happening this week.  If you're not like me and you're not planning to bury yourself under a pile made up of your family and your dog until the morning, you should go check out Sink Tapes at The Brighton Bar in Long Branch tonight.  They do a nice job of carrying on the tradition of VU-influenced New Jersey acts like The Feelies and Yo La Tengo.

Provided I'm sufficiently recovered, I'm trying to get CoolMom to join me on Friday for a free show at Asbury Park's Berkeley Bar featuring Accidental Seabirds and River City Extension sister band, Thanks.  If you make it to that one, come find me and I'll buy you a beverage.

Finally, I almost forgot that it was Kurt Cobain's birthday today.

Homeward Bound Edition

Leaving London Friday

On my way home today.  For a few hours anyway.  Very early tomorrow morning, CoolDaughter #2 and I are heading off on a short trip for the long weekend.  I'll be exhausted, but the one-on-one time will be fun.

Talk to you soon.  Rock on...

Great Week for Music in London

For Somebody

Conor Oberst's Desaparecidos, Kraftwerk, night one of The Bronx at Underworld.  So far, I've missed them all.  Late nights at work and corporate dinners have combined to thwart my efforts to take advantage of being in one of the world's great cities to see some great music.

I have a second chance and what looks like a free evening to see The Bronx tomorrow.  It's just a matter of finding a ticket to the sold out show.  Local Natives on Thursday at Scala, for which I already have a ticket, is looking less and less likely however.

Work.

If I do manage to work in something, you can be sure I'll write about it.

Cheers.

Snow Playlist

For Once the Snow Arrives

Still just rain here.  The winds seem to be picking up, but I still haven't seen a single flake.

CoolDaughter #1's swim meet has already been canceled for tomorrow, and businesses are shuttering.  It seems like everyone is still expecting Nemo to bring the white stuff.

With that in mind, here's a short playlist for you to listen to while you sip your hot cocoa.

Divine Fits Covers "Hungry Heart"

Covers? Springsteen? Had to Post

Divine Fits, the current "super group" project of Spoon's Britt Daniel and Wolf Parade's / Handsome Furs' Dan Boeckner, are currently touring Australia.  They made a stop at Triple J radio and did a cover of Springsteen's "Hungry Heart."

I love covers.  I love Springsteen.  I love Spoon.  I love Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs.  So I think this is very cool.



It was also very cool when My Morning Jacket broke out their own cover of this song for the crowd at On The Beach in Asbury Park.

Tween Edition

CoolDaughter #1 Tenth Birthday Friday

The snow hasn't arrived yet, but it is CoolDaughter #1's tenth birthday.  She was born on a day when the iceboats were racing on the Navesink, and it's not uncommon for us to have to cancel her birthday parties because of the weather.  Winter babies.

I looked for an appropriate "birthday" song for her, but I couldn't really come up with anything.  Instead, I'll give her what she really wants.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Look for my review when TayTay comes to Newark at the end of March.

Rock on.

Winter Storm

Ugh...

From NJ.com's continuously updated storm watch:

1:50 p.m. The most-affected regions of Hurricane Sandy along the New Jersey coast are about to take another hit. With defenses already weakened, coastal communities could see major impacts from coastal flooding, with the worst coming Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

"I'm really worried about the areas worst hit by Sandy," said NWS meteorologist Gary Szatkowski. "Time is starting to work against us...We could see substantial beach erosion. I know people have been working hard, but there's less to erode. We could easily see waves and water coming into areas you typically wouldn't."

Szatkowski said he is concerned about the Raritan Bay shore in particular, where a three foot storm surge is possible at high tide Saturday morning, with five to seven foot waves breaking over top of it.

Let's hope things don't get too bad.  If they do, though, be there for your friends and neighbors again. 

This all made me think of one of the songs that Steve Earle did with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band as part of the On The Beach concert earlier this year.  Here they are doing "This City" at New York's City Winery:

SIMGE Posts This Week

The Flower Lane and Little Silver

I did two pieces for Speak Into My Good Eye this week, both somewhat New Jersey-centric.  The first is a review of Matt Mondanile's latest Ducktails effort, The Flower Lane.  The second is a review / recap of a show I saw at Glasslands that had Little Silver on the bill along with The Inner Banks and Yellowbirds.  Check those out if you feel the inclination.

In the meantime, I'm preparing to head off to London next week.  First, though, I've got to squeeze in CoolDaughter #1's 10th birthday, a swim meet, Tiny Giant's Winter Beach Ball, and some time out with CoolMom.  A couple of those should give me some good fodder for posts.

As always, I'll let you know where and when I post something new.  If you stop by here, follow me on Twitter or Tumblr, or like this blog's Facebook page, then you won't miss anything.

Tiny Giant: Janet LaBelle

Appearing with The Everymen, Those Mockingbirds, Others at Tiny Giant Winter Beach Ball

Janet LaBelle, a product of New Jersey's pop punk scene, branched out into some sounds inspired by the 1960's -- from rock to noir to bossa nova -- on her 2011 Blossom and Blue EP.  She maintains the DIY, analog ethic, though, of her pop punk past while looking for new sounds to accompany her more mature lyrics.

She'll be part of the Tiny Giant Artist Collective's Winter Beach Ball this weekend at Asbury Lanes along with, among many others, Those Mockingbirds and The Everymen.

Just one more reason to head to Asbury Park this weekend.  And Asbury Lanes has actual bowling, too -- with balls instead of people.

Check out two non-EP tracks, featuring a solo LaBelle on ukulele, and I'll see you at The Lanes.

Favorite Songs of 2013 Playlist

...So Far, As Always

So I've started another one of these.  Same rules as last time.  What's that? I never told you about the rules?

1.  I'm only allowed one song per band / artist.
I have a tendency to obsess on things.  Without this restriction, I could just end up with a playlist consisting of my favorite albums of the year in their entirety.  The other thing that makes this fun is rule number...

2.  Once a song is on the list, it stays on the list.
This biases the list toward singles that come out prior to an album's release and away from "deep cuts" that could improve my mindie street cred, but it also prevents me from changing the list every time the mindie conventional wisdom goes against a song I liked when I first heard it.  The bigger problem with this rule is that as my tastes honestly change over the course of the year, I may end up being stuck with something I don't love.  I can always make up other playlists.

3.  The song has to be available on Spotify.
This one should be obvious.

Now that you know the rules that I've imposed upon myself, here are the first few of my favorite songs of this young year.  You can check back here to see any additions, or you can subscribe via Spotify.

Once again, I use Spotify for this because it's easy.  I'm not shilling for them or endorsing them; but if you don't have Spotify installed, I'm pretty sure this won't work for you.

My Bloody Valentine Released mbv Last Night

And Broke the Internet

They broke the Internet for those My Bloody Valentine fans who flocked to the newly-launched www.mybloodyvalentine.org upon the announcement of the album's release, that is.  For everyone else,  -- like the many millions of fans who go to, say, Taylor Swift's official website every day of the year -- the Internet worked just fine.

I wrote some initial thoughts on this for Speak Into My Good Eye this morning, and I've been listening to the album on and off all day long.  My quick review:  if you are a My Bloody Valentine fan like me, you'll probably love the record.

It isn't going to be the historic and influential (for a certain segment of the population, anyway) album that Loveless was; but this is 2013, after all.  On mbv, though, Kevin Shields and company show that, even after twenty-plus years filled with countless bands influenced by Loveless, My Bloody Valentine themselves still have some interesting places to take their sound.

You can stream mbv via the band's official Youtube channel, and decide for yourself if February 3rd, 2013 should be dubbed "My Super Bloody Valentine Bowl Sunday."  Enjoy the album.  And the game.

Little Silver Performing in a Basement

...and at Glasslands on February 5th

I'd been meaning to post this since I saw it a couple of weeks ago.

Secret Sound Shop posted a great looking and great sounding video of Little Silver performing two songs from their 2010 EP, The Stolen Souvenir, in a Brooklyn basement.  The husband and wife duo of Erika Simonian and Steve Curtis do a quiet and intimate version of "Sleep 'til Morning" along with their cover of Simonian's All the Plastic Animals track, "Food from the Cow."

If you'd like to hear more from Little Silver, you can check out their Bandcamp page.  They'll also be appearing live at Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn on February 5th.

And, on a personal note, I would just like to express my thanks to the band for naming themselves after the location of CoolDad Music HQ.

Worth the Wait Edition

Yo La Tengo Video Friday

I didn't think it was possible.  Maybe my perspective has changed as I've grown older with the band; but in their first proper music video since 1997, Yo La Tengo may have topped "Sugarcube"'s classic collaboration with Mr. Show.

The video for "I'll Be Around," shot by Junebug director Phil Morrison, almost perfectly captures the overall feeling of the band's lastest album Fade while still showcasing Yo La Tengo's trademark sense of humor.

Just smile quietly to yourself as you watch, but don't forget to...

Rock on.