Now it isn’t every day that you hear your favorite singer in a record shop talking sharing a movie review, but with Pierre’s Dino Campaign Trail, an acoustic tour in support of the upcoming album out this January, anything could happen. The tour itinerary was decided entirely by twitter and this led Pierre to Lawrence’s Love Garden Sounds to tape a live movie review with Lawrence’s Scene-Stealers.com.

This was their first time in front of a live audience and for such a popular movie, it was not so popular with the audience that considered themselves above such a film. Pierre gave it a solid review though and after hearing his thoughts on the movie, I kind of have a new perspective on it, too. Although, I kind of feel he was really giving “Face Punch” the solid rock fist and not “New Moon.” Oh, “Face Punch. Punch to the Face. Pow pow.”

The movie review was just an added bonus to having Justin in town. The real show would come later, but after the review, he played about four songs acoustic for the audience “Midwest Love Affair,” “Broken Heart,” “Disappear,” and “Fell in Love Without You” and even plugged in his iPod to play a few tracks off the new record. After getting a taste for the pieces, I’m excited, but it sounds a bit different than previous material – more tempo changes and different styles. It might take some getting used to, but knowing them, it will still be good.

As for the actual performance, there was some confusion where it was. Lawrence has plenty of venues, but this show was set at a warehouse for the Blue Collar Distro T-Shirt company. And after driving past several warehouses in an attempt to find the right one, we finally found it with a small group of shivering kids waiting for Justin to finish tuning up so the show could begin. Justin was ready a little before the promised start time, but insisting on waiting to begin at exactly 7 p.m., we held a moment of silence. It was short-lived and I’m glad because Justin is so rarely silent. Heck, during his performance he would even sing the solos of the other instruments.

At first I was sketched out by the location, but as the intimate set determined by requests that included “Indoor Living,” “Future Freaks Me Out,” “Everything Is Alright,” “Fell in Love Without You,” “LG Fuad,” “Disappear,” and more, I realized that this warehouse with green mannequins, t-shirts for up and coming acts and walls covered in not only Motion City Soundtrack posters, but Get Up Kids and Appleseed Cast and other scene-determining bands was the perfect location. It was historic. It was epic.

Justin answered questions dropped some pop culture references and finally called it a night as his voice started giving him some troubles and he still had one more day to go on the dino trail. My MCS-virgin friends that accompanied were eager to go home and check out the band’s other songs as they were impressed by how “pretty” Pierre’s voice was.

I was sad to call it a night, but glad to a part of such a special occasion. I filmed the whole thing and if I can figure out how to break it up to get on YouTube or something, I’ll be sharing it with you all soon, I promise.

As a special holiday treat, while in Lawrence, Justin Pierre recorded a song with local band The Dead Girls. The song is called “It’s All Happening.” And you can download it for free. Just right click and save as. Happy Holidays.

.“It’s All Happening”

Motion City Soundtrack: website | myspace | @ liberty hall | dino campaign trail

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The holiday poster is in honor of the release of the digital remastering of the original Beatles catalog. The catalog is available for purchase now and each CD has been replicated with the original UK album art and comes with rare photos and liner notes. For a limited time, the CDs will be embedded with a documentary about each album.

Since this is a holiday poster, we’re giving you until the end of this Thanksgiving holiday to enter our contest. Correctly tell us how many titles you can find in the primary box set of remasters before Monday, Nov. 30 at 10 a.m. CDT and we’ll pick a winner from the correct answers then.

Happy Holidays.

Beatles: website

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On a first listen, It Goes On sounds a little like folky b-sides from Rilo Kiley’s first album – with Darosa’s voice paralleling Jenny Lewis’ softer tone. But with a couple more rounds you can see the potential that’s been brought together with Destry. “Don’t Forget Me” and “Home Isn’t Home” are probably the strongest examples of how this record is so easy to listen to. That’s exactly what it is – likeable folk pop.

The couple times Destry breaks away from the similar sound comes in the middle of It Goes On. “Trouble,” a bluesy track that shows the rich lower tone of DaRosa’s voice with a haunting bass line that sounds like walking down a dark, wet street and wind blowing through the trees. Right after comes the piano-laden title track, which is a cross between a ballad and a waltzy folk song. It would fit perfectly into the repertoire of pop songs that often provide the backing track on “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Let it be known that It Goes On came together as the band members sent demos back and forth, which is why it is such a simplistic and sometimes rudimentary first effort. Like I said before, if the band members had gotten together to properly collaborate and write the album, the plain shells of songs would have flourished into something even more beautiful. More producing would help Destry separate itself from its more established predecessors.

But as a first effort, It Goes On works on the most basic level – it’s pleasant to listen to.

Track Listing:
01. Don’t Forget Me
02. So Far Away
03. Leave the Lights On
04. Big Mouths
05. Trouble
06. It Goes On
07. Home Isn’t Home
08. I Made A Mistake
09. Sing My Song
10. Took the Money
11. Tearing It Apart

Destry: website | myspace

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The current list of showcasing artists can be seen HERE.

Again, this year’s lineup will include artists from all around the globe, from Japan to New Zealand, the UK to to Belgium. Some of the artists to grace the stages in Austin this year are Canada’s Delhi to Dublin, Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit, and New York’s We Are Scientists.

Badges to attend range from $375 currently for a film badge to $1050 for the platinum badge, and to pre-purchase tickets you have until February 12. After that, you have to pay the more expensive walk-up rate.

There is still time to register to attend, and you can check all the registration rates and deadlines HERE.

The SXSW Media Kit can also be viewed as a PDF HERE.

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“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” actor Jason Segel recently performed an original song with the duo from “Once,” The Swell Season.

Jason consulted the Swell Season’s Marketa Irglova for songwriting tips and she told him to “include as much personal information as you can.”

As you can tell from this new tune – which includes Jason’s full acting CV, phone #, and some other (very) personal details – he took the advice to heart.

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Tiësto collaborates with several artists on this album. To win, simply tell us 3 of his collaborations by Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 12 p.m. CDT and we’ll pick a winner from the correct answers then. Contest is limited to US residents.

For those that don’t want to take their chances with our contest, you can buy the album here.

Be sure to also check out Tiësto’s video for “Escape Me.”

Track Listing:
01. Kaleidoscope
02. Escape Me
03. You Are My Diamond
04. I Will Be Here
05. I Am Strong
06. Here On Earth
07. Always Near
08. It’s Not The Things You Say
09. Fresh Fruit
10. Century
11. eel It In My Bones
12. Who Wants To Be Alone
13. LA Ride
14. Bend It Like You Don’t Care
15. Knock You Out
16. Louder Than Boom
17. Surrounded By Light

Tiësto: website | myspace

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In related news, SSLYBY recently commissioned a video for “Glue Girls,” the standout track from its critically acclaimed second album, Pershing (out now on Polyvinyl).

Tour Dates:
Dec. 6 – Mandela Room / Binghamton University / Vestal, NY
Dec. 7 - The Bell House /Brooklyn, NY
Dec. 8 – The Summit / Columbus, OH
Dec. 9 – The Bishop / Bloomington, IN
Jan. 28 – Schubas / Chicago, IL
Jan. 29 – Courtyard Cafe / Urbana, IL
Jan. 30 – Mojo’s / Columbia, MO
Jan. 31 – Jackpot Saloon / Lawrence, KS

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: website | myspace

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PW: I know that your guys’ set is highly influenced by the light show, how involved are you in the planning of that?
Kris Barman, Innerpartysystem: Yeah. We built that. We did all that stuff. I’m serious. We went to Home Depot. Bought wood and bought lights. Then we figured out how to sync it all up with the computer. So we built that and Jesse [Cronan] (synthesizer, sampling) actually designed the light show.
PN: Yeah. We don’t actually have an ld. It is all synced to our computer.
PW: Yeah. That’s awesome and your light show is awesome and it seems like everyone else always hires their own light guy.
KB: We try to be as DIY as possible. We want to save money. We don’t want to pay anybody.

PW: Nice. I know you just released a “Winter Mixtape.” Tell me about that.
KB: A majority of that is Jared [Piccone] (drums). Jared does all the mixtape stuff. We just like putting more shit out there for kids to listen to. Music is free pretty much nowadays, so the more stuff you can put out and get them to listen to, well it’s just cool to let them here what we’re listening to and what we’re hearing. It is kind of what we’re listening to now and what we think is cool.

PW: So what are some of the bands you’re sampling now or listening to now?
KB: Listening to now… I’ve been listening to the same bands forever. There aren’t any new bands. I should listen to new music, but I don’t.
PN: I’m really into Hall and Oates right now.
KB: Hall and Oates is something you’re always into though.
PN: Um. Usually a lot of really obscure electronic shit that a bunch of dudes from Sweden do that no one has heard.

PW: Now, you’re all from Pennsylvania, right?
IPS: Yeah.
PW: It seems like you don’t hear too much about electronic-based bands from Pennsylvania. Is there a scene that I just don’t know about?
KB: Where we are from, the only scene is cover bands.
PN: I think Gwar. Gwar’s the scene.
KB: Gwar does all of it.

PW: So how did you guys get into it?
KB: I personally, I’ve been doing it since I was really young. I got into programming beats from I don’t know, 27 down, so I’ve always done it. I’ve always had an interest in it. I don’t know where it came from. When you sit at home on your computer, what else are you going to do? I love music, so I learned how to make music and I was like, oh this is really cool. I’ve been doing it ever since.
PN: For me it kind of started with like fruity loops in high school.
PW: Fruity loops?
KB: It’s like a really sh-well, actually, it’s not shitty at all, it is a beginner program, but it can do a lot of stuff. It is like beginner to pro. So you can make music.
PW: OK, I for some reason was thinking cereal.
PN: No.
KB: Haha, no. Totally different. I’m always into cereal though.
PN: I’m always down with Fruit Loops. That’s how I got into electronics. Cereal. Can we quote that in your thing, so it is a little blurb here?
PW: Innerpartysystem loves cereal.
KB: Cereal. What drives Innerpartysystem.

PW: Haha. We’ll see. My mom lives in Scranton, so that’s about as familiar as I get with Pennsylvania.
PN: There’s a lot of butt rock in Pennsylvania.
KB: Yeah.
PN: I’m going to say it is safe to say we coined the term “butt rock.”
PW: I would say that’s safe to say.
PN: Butt rock is where the drummer has the gotee and the lengthy hair. Always the ripped guitar player with the white beard and they play like a cover band.
KB: They do the “Jugh jugh jugh jugh jugh ooo.”
PN: Like really shitty breakdowns. There’s a lot of that in Pennsylvania.
PW: I really wish this was a video interview right now. So it has been about a half a year since you parted with Island. Is that a decision that has been good for you? Have you learned a lot since then? Do you still find major labels relevant?
PN: I’m about to drop some knowledge on you. We’re not on Island anymore.
PW: Right. It has been about half a year.
PN: Oh, right. Fuck me. I’m not dropping shit. It was a mutual thing. Island wasn’t doing anything for us. Obviously we didn’t sell three million records and become the biggest band in the world. We’re not fucking Lady Gaga. For us, it is more of an indie route and we’re trying to find that way.
KB: It’s nice now that we don’t have a label to talk to for the “big single” and all that shit.
PN: Yeah.
KB: We could make a song out of fart sounds if we wanted. No more of the chorus needs to be “bigger.” Make it “big.”
PN: A&R people say that a lot. “It’s just not big enough.”

PW: “Don’t Stop” was pretty popular in Kansas City.
IPS: Was it?
PW: Yeah. Last year you played our Christmas show.
KB: Oh that’s right. The Buzz.
(crazy announcer voices)
PN: You’re listening to the Buzzzzz.
KB: The Buzzzz. 93.3
PW: Haha, oh no. Not that. They’ll kill you. 96.5.
KB: 96.5 the Buzzz.
This continues for quite awhile
KB: AM Radio.

PW: So no label plans for the future, or sticking with DIY?
KB: Maybe. It depends.
PN: There are some people looking at us, but really we need to write the next record and see where it goes.

PW: Have you started planning it out at all?
KB: A little bit. It really needs to come to fruition. Like that word?
PW: How do you, well, you do a lot of remixes vs. original music-how do you draw the line between the two or is there a preference?
PN: Remixing is easy.
KB: Yeah. We love remixing.
PN: A lot of the things we create and I get most excited about are remixes. I don’t know if there is even a line to draw. It is just whatever rules. We could be writing a song and working on our remixes at the same time. We don’t spend like three days on a song and stop. We get bored on one thing and we move on. We have A.D.D.

PW: To wrap up since it is still pretty loud and I’m sure you want to get back to the show, do you have a favorite musical memory of the “Naught Decade?”
PN: Personally or music in general?
PW: Personally is fine.
KB: Last ten years?
PW: Yeah. You don’t have to be cliche too and say KC is the best or something. Just a favorite memory. Super easy.
PN: Favorite musical place or?
PW: Just favorite musical memory?
PN: Just playing a huge show.
KB: We played Projekt Revolution in the UK and there were 49,000 people there. That was huge for us.

PW: Are your UK crowds pretty different than your US crowds then?
KB: Yes.
PN: Yeah. For some reason, we did way better over there. “Don’t Stop” hit radio really hard and MTV and all that crap, so yeah.
KB: I think shows are better there. Kids just flip shit. Drinking age is lower, too. That loosens them up and fuels the fire. Kids, well, music is still thriving over there and radio is still good over there. They just know music better than in America. Americans can be boring or listen to just down music.
PN: Another way to answer that question: I think it is great the way electronic music is coming to the pop culture now. Definitely in the last five or six years, a lot more bands are using a lot more electronics, which I love since we are all huge electronicheads. A lot of the bigger bands, bands like Daft Punk and Justice, are getting huge.
PW: I’ve noticed that too. Sweet. Well, we’re wrap up there since it is loud and cold.
IPS: Cool.
PW: Thanks so much.
IPS: Nice to meet you.

Innerpartysystem: website | myspace | @ afentra’s vd party

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.Phoenix – “Fences”
Fences is a mid tempo track that feels faster with the music, but slower through lead singer Thomas Mars’ vocals. The song has a romantic tinge to it with the highs and lows of Mars’ crooning voice. The vocals are really the best part that reach a falsetto, the music pursuing the change, creating a song with a lot of variety. The music is a beautiful blend of rock, jangly guitars with touches of synthesizers and light body moving drums.

.Def Starr Remix
This is by far the best remix of the song. The synthy beginning reminds me of the intro to “Forever Young” by Alphaville. The mix then jumps into squiggles and rubs on a synthesizer, which create sounds as such. The rock aesthetic of the song is subtly peeled away to be replaced by soft electronic music. The music is incredibly hushed and delicate; the altered version comes across as something simpler and purer. It’s the track I listen to the most out of all of them. Mars’ vocals seemed enhanced here, perhaps because they stand out amongst the softer music.

.Friendly Fires Remix
Friendly Fires change up things significantly here. The music is louder, jumpier and definitely faster. I see this one being played on dance floors. It has an old schools 90s dance vibe to it, mixed with jangly pianos, splinter splashed drums, and eventually some heavy presses on the trusty synth. The vocals are of course left in place, because they’re oh so good, though at times come across muffled by the music. Either way, a great re-working of the original.

.Neo Tokyo Remix
The Neo Tokyo mix is an even further cry away from the original. All rock/soft aesthetics are stripped to be replaced by French electro trash instrumentation; all very distorted, jarring, sleazy and buzzy. But it’s a fun mix to get into, as it has typical house builds up and come downs. It’s got all sorts of craziness in it throughout.

Phoenix: website | myspace | @ rumsey playfield | @ monolith | @ record bar | remix monday “love like a sunset”

Photo by: Dese’Rae L. Stage

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Amanda Palmer: website | myspace | @ highline ballroom | Who Killed Amanda Palmer? review

Photos (and words) by Dese’Rae L. Stage.

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