That was maybe the most redundant post title to date, but DFA’s latest signing Free Energy is pretty much the most non-DFA sounding band to date (think OK GO…before the treadmill video fame).  They define themselves as “hooky classic rock”, which sounds about right…but odd that DFA is putting it out.  Guess they’re always good for a curve ball.

Free Energy - Free Energy (MP3)

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Really excited for the Monsters of Folk super-collaboration to release their album on september 22nd (despite the horrible band name).  They are offering up a mp3 of their first song “say please” over at their website on the right hand site.  Pretty good song, where the chorus is seamlessly switched between conor, james, and ward.

get it here.

Related:

• Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band @ Ottobar July 7th
• Download Conor Oberst/Mystic Valley Band Documentary for Free
• Conor Oberst: “Nikorette” MP3, DVD Trailer
• Conor Oberst to Release New Album May 5th

I have to admit I don’t know much about Cass McCombs.  My first intro to him was really seeing this video on pitchfork…but i found it to be pretty awesome, which is why i am posting it here for you to hopefully watch.  Simple video idea, but i think it works pretty well, and the song is pretty heardbreakingly good.  I am not as big of a fan of “Dreams Come True Girl”, but it’s also worth listening.

Both are off his recently released (5th!) album Catacombs

Cass McCombs - Dreams Come True Girl (MP3)

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For this album review i turned to our in-house Sonic Youth ‘expert’ Casey Fighorn:

Sonic Youth’s fifteenth studio album — The Eternal — is their most rock-oriented in years. It avoids many of the noodly, free jazzy-pitfalls that seem to plague the majority of their post-1995 catalog. This isn’t to say that all of those records were horrible, just not really the kinds of things you listen to more than once or twice a year. The Eternal — on the other hand — is much more akin to the Sonic Youth you probably grew up with.  Some of the songs even sound significantly closer in style to Thurston Moore’s 1995 solo, Psychic Hearts record than SY songs produced at the same time as that album did.

The previous record, Rather Ripped was well-reviewed critically, and seems like a transition from the directionless droning of pretty much everything after A Thousand Leaves to this new record’s more focused songwriting. Kim Gordon sings more, Thurston’s songs are more focused and aren’t smarmy like they have been, and the record is just generally more listenable than things have been for a long time. I can’t remember the last time I listened to any of the post Washing Machine records all the way through after the first listen. This isn’t the case with The Eternal.

The songs are generally shorter in length than some of the more recent records’ tendency to extend needlessly, and while some of the songs are melodic — “Antenna,” “Malibu Gas Station,” etc. — they’re all pretty upbeat, and on average clock in at around three or four minutes, with a couple longer ones, but nothing like the ten minute averages of the past decade. Some of them, like “Thunderclap (for Bobby Pyn)” and “Poison Arrow” while not aggressive, are heavy in the way that Sonic Youth songs used to be. They’re noisy, and should be listened to with the volume way up, but not heavy in a Sunn o))) or Sleep kind of way.

Most of the songs sound like the “harder than hardcore” tunes of fifteen or twenty years ago. Pop oriented song-structures backed by those odd passages of noise — more like Daydream Nation, or Goo/Dirty era songs than what came after. That said, I feel like the Sonic Youth I grew up with has returned from a long hiatus, and that makes me very happy.

Stream the whole thing:

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• Lee Ranaldo’s (Sonic Youth) Stolen Guitar?

8/22/09 ny, ny [bowery ballroom] * tickets available exclusively at nin.com nin.com on sale: 7/17 time: 5:00pm est support: the horrors

8/23/09 ny, ny [webster hall] * tickets available exclusively at nin.com nin.com on sale: 7/17 time: 5:00 pm est support: the horrors

8/25/09 ny, ny [terminal 5] nin.com pre sale: 7/17 time: 5:00pm est on sale: 7/31 support: the horrors

8/26/09 ny, ny [terminal 5] nin.com pre sale: 7/17 time: 5:00pm est on sale: 7/31

8/28/09 chicago, il [aragon ballroom] nin.com pre sale: 7/17 time: 5:00pm cst on sale: 7/31 support: mew

8/29/09 chicago, il [aragon ballroom] nin.com pre sale: 7/17 time: 5:00pm cst on sale: 7/31 support: mew

9/2/09 los angeles, ca [hollywood palladium] nin.com pre sale: 7/17 time: 5:00pm pst on sale: 7/31 support: mew

9/3/09 los angeles, ca [henry fonda theater] tickets available exclusively at nin.com nin.com on sale: 7/17 time: 5:00pm pst support: mew

9/5/09 los angeles, ca [wiltern theatre] nin.com pre sale: 7/17 time: 5:00pm pst on sale: 7/31

9/6/09 los angeles, ca [echoplex] * tickets available exclusively at nin.com nin.com on sale: 7/17 time: 5:00pm pst

“And that as they say is THAT. Aside from the festival in Toronto there are no more shows (for real this time!)“

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Like i said, you lovable, crazy swedes you.

I’ve been listening to an early copy of My Guilty Pleasure and I have to say that i think Shapiro fans will dig it; maybe not as good as Disco Romance, as it’s less of a dancy affair, but still really good for late summer nights.  Not sure what that means, but it makes sense to me.  Think less Annie and more Chromatics style on this one.

Sally Shapiro - Love In July (MP3)

Love In July

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(note:  if you’re reading this via RSS, there are embedded photos in this post)

I hadn’t really been thinking about this show for the past couple of weeks leading up to it, so I think it finally hit me when I got to the Ottobar, that this is a pretty small venue to see Oberst perform.  I had seen him before at some larger venues and he could hold up with those bigger audiences, so there was definitely a little excitement to see him on the small stage at Ottobar, about 4 feet from the stage.

The band played songs from the new album, Outer South, and Conor Oberst’s solo album that came out last year. I haven’t been much of a proponent for Outer South, but now hearing the songs live it makes me want to go back and listen to it again. Songs like “Air Mattress” and “Die in A hospital” (from the solo album) were given new life and came off less repetitive and more “rockin” than what you can grasp from the CD.

The Mystic Valley Band was pretty impressive, all of them with genuine energy for the concert, and Conor Oberst seemed to fit right in with the band.   Guitarist Taylor Hollingsworth came out and played an acoustic Spanish style guitar on one of the highlights of the show “Cape Canaveral”, trading a few riffs with Oberst in the beginning.  Macey Taylor offered the very consistent and smooth basslines as he added his more angelic voice to Conor’s snargle. Keyboardist Walcott offered nice atmosphere to “I Got The Reason #2″ and kicked in with that great Wurlitzer on many songs.

Other highlights included “Ten Women”, “Nikorette”,  “Spoiled”  and the exceptional closer “Roosevelt Room”, one of the more jarring songs in Oberst’s catalog. Conor poured water on drummer Jason Boesel’s snares at the break of a song, so when he began beating on the drums water was splashing up everywhere, a nice little display for the encore. It’s good to see a band where you have 4 people singing, ( loose analogy alert) it felt like The Band to Oberst’s Dylan.

It was a good night at the Ottobar, and they probably had one of the biggest touring Buses parked on the side I have ever seen. I only caught a few songs of the opener Deep Sea Diver, but it sounded like a good lead-up to the show and will have to look into them more. Oberst held back on the dramatics for most of the show and seemed to just be having a good time and was full of energy as usual. Going with my earlier analogy, I would like to see the Mystic Valley band continue strong on their own and will look forward to a full album of songs by them. It’s also great to know that Oberst will be touring with M. Ward and Jim James on Monsters of Folk coming soon.

Related:

• Monster of Folk (aka Conor Oberst, Jim James, M. Ward, and Mike Mogis): “Say Please” Download
• Download Conor Oberst/Mystic Valley Band Documentary for Free
• Animal Collective @ Ottobar 5/10/09
• Conor Oberst: “Nikorette” MP3, DVD Trailer

I literally went outside after seeing this and ran as fast as i could for 40 minutes.  Inspiring stuff.

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Today only you can stream The Dead Weather’s new album Horehound, which, unsurprisingly, is pretty kick-ass gritty rock n’ roll.  Jack white is on drums, a vocalist from The Kills (Alison Mosshart), a guitarist from Queens of the Stone Age (Dean Fertita), and the bassist from The Raconteurs (Jack Lawrence).

You can buy it on July 14th.

Stream it HERE.

Tour Dates after the jump:

Tour Dates:
July
13 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
14 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
16 New York, NY - Terminal 5
17 New York, NY - Terminal 5
18 Boston, MA - House of Blues
19 Ottawa, ONT - Ottawa Blues Festival
21 Montreal, QUE - Olympia De Montreal
22 Toronto, ONT - Kool Haus, Toronto
24 Detroit, MI - The Fillmore
25 Columbus, OH - The LC Pavilion
27 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
28 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
29 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
30 Nashville, TN - War Memorial Auditorium

August
17 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
18 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
20 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theatre
21 Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom
22 Vancouver, BC - Commodore Ballroom
23 Portland, OR - Roseland Theater
25 Los Angeles, cA - Wiltern Theatre
27 Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
29 San Diego, CA - Street Scene
30 San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival

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