Vampire Weekend + Ra Ra Riot = Discovery = Amazing

What happens when you combine two of my favorite current bands? A little thing called Discovery.

Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend has teamed up with Wes Miles from Ra Ra Riot (which you should know by now I love) to form the POWER DUO. Too soon to call them a power duo? Maybe, but seriously, listen to this. It's great.

They have three tracks on their MySpace now, one being a new version of Ra Ra Riot's "Can You Tell" renamed "Can You Discover." From the MySpace you can also tell that the two have an EP in the works, so we'll be sure to update you as more substantial information surfaces.

I can only assume Batmanglij is doing a majority (if not all) of the producing while Miles mans the vocals. The result is really fun and I'm interested to see if they switch on occasion. It's like Usher meets Cadence Weapon beats, but coming from the guys from Vampire Weekend and Ra Ra Riot.

Postal Service eat your heart out.

The Dodos' Show From Tuesday

In case you missed The Dodos come through with Silje Nes on Tuesday, we have a handful of photos for you. The show lived up to the hype that I was beginning to hear of their live performances. And if you have yet to hear the band's latest release, Visiter, you can buy it here. It dropped March 18 on Frenchkiss.

Silje Nes




The Dodos.

You can few the entire gallery from the evening here.

Finn Riggins All Over the Place

All over the place as far as we here are concerned. The Idaho-based Finn Riggins will hit pretty much all the stops that we cover on this blog. And from what I've been hearing and what others are saying, there's no reason not to check them out when they come near you.

The trio released A Solider, A Saint, An Ocean Explorer last year. CMJ, as well as some more localized newspapers and magazines, gave it a fairly solid review. I've played the six songs from that album that they currently have streaming on their MySpace and I'm impressed enough to want to go out and see them. Check out the dates below.

April 10
@ Sierra Grille
Northampton, Mass.

April 11
@ Hit Booking House
192 South Rd.
Somers, Conn.
6:30 p.m. / $5

April 19
@ The Q
Worcester, Mass.

April 22
@ 193 Degrees Coffeehouse
Kingston, RI

Downloads:
Finn Riggins - Glove Compartment
Finn Riggins - Hraka

You can buy the album here.

Rate My Spring Concert, Part II

Our new best friend Christian sent us a few great tips on more spring concerts for local universities, as well as these words, "Just wanted to let you know for sure who we [UConn] are having for Spring Weekend (Not Jason Mraz, thank God), as well as some other schools in the area I know about."

So without further ado, let's examine the new batch of shows. Check our first batch here.

And the Round 2 winner is...
Babson College.
Who you ask? A business school by Boston that I haven't heard of before. Anyways, the school has Common and Toots & The Maytals. Even though I was complaining about Common's latest album recently, that is a solid lineup to have. The show is sold out, but it will be held on April 11.


The Runner-Ups:
Northeastern.
The day after Toots & The Maytals strike again. This time with Ludacris and The Roots. It was a toss up of was Common greater than both Ludacris and The Roots combined. Considering Luda shouldn't really count in the equation, I decided Common > The Roots and moved on.

University of Connecticut
Fast forward a bit to April 26 and UConn pulls a show that is infinitely better than Jason Mraz. T-Pain, Flo-Rida, Method Man and Redman come to Storrs. At first I was like, 'who the fuck is Flo-Rida,' but everyone knows "Low," so this should be a good time. Method Man and Redman are (somehow) quietly the best thing on the bill though.

The Rest:
Mount Holyoke College / April 10 / M.I.A.

Boston College / April 12 / Talib Kweli

Harvard / April 18 / Wu-Tang Clan & Gavin Degraw

Stonehill / April 18 / Third Eye Blind

University of Rhode Island / April 23 / Colbie Caillat

Smith College / April 25 / Feist & Ingrid Michaelson

Amherst College / April 26 / Third Eye Blind

University of Rhode Island (again?) / April 28 / Akon

And winner of the school with a Jason Mraz fan on their e-board...
Holy Cross / April 29 /Jason Mraz & Everclear

Smith College did great with Feist and you can't complain about M.I.A. either. The only reason I didn't bump them to the runner-up section was simply because it lacked much besides a headliner. Having a bit of variety is what spring concerts are all about. I hate to use Brown has the golden rule, but teaming Lupe Fiasco with Vampire Weekend is a perfect example of that.

Minus the Bear Cancels for Tomorrow; Friday and Saturday Still On

"Due to illness we won’t be able to rock anything tomorrow night in Providence, RI. Refunds can be obtained at point of purchase. Sorry to those who were planning on coming out," says a Minus the Bear blog post on MySpace.


That is pretty unfortunate for Providence, but if you really want to see the band you still have two more chances that are still on as of now. Friday's show at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. and Saturday's at Pearl St. Nightclub in Northampton, Mass.

The Seattle-based band released their third full-length, titled Planet of Ice, this past summer to favorable reviews. The album landed a 91 from the A.V. Club and a 70 from Spin.

Tapes 'n Tapes Streaming Again

About a month ago we told you that the new Tapes 'n Tapes album, Walk it Off, was streaming for the day, but it looks like in anticipation of the album's April 8 release they have the whole thing up again.

You can find the whole album courtesy of MTVu here.

As I'm streaming it myself I can't help but hear something familiar. It might be The Shins. Who knows. You can also check our previous post about the band linked above to get a few dates nearby. Not too close, but close enough if you find yourself really into the album over the next couple weeks.

Edit: I hear some Modest Mouse too. Maybe that is it. Either way it's good.

Jay-Z and his New Friends at Live Nation

It seems that this news is probably all over news sites and blogs right now, but just to let you know, Jay-Z is about to leave Def Jam for Live Nation, a company known for its concert productions.

Thanks to these New York Times alerts I get frequently, or whenever they think something important enough is happening, they're getting the information out to the public that the rap star is about to leave Def Jam for a $150 million contract with the "concert giant" and it's a pretty big deal, literally and figuratively.

The NY Times said that Jay-Z is planning on signing on with them later this week for a deal that includes his own music endeavor and his recording and touring for the next 10 years. In doing so, this will mark Live Nation's new explorations in hip-hop, while the company is generally known for its dealings with rock and country music.

Jay-Z's current 28-date tour with Mary J. Blige will mark his first big event with Live Nation. The rapper, who left his post of the president of Def Jam records in December, has one album left with his previous recording label.

Yesterday’s Releases Today: Los Campesinos!

Well, since local news is a bit slow this week I decided we should (I should) take a look at what was released yesterday and say a few words. This may become a regular thing, especially in the next few weeks with loads of good releases to speak of, but who knows.

Los Campesinos!
Hold On Now, Youngster...
Arts & Crafts

I’m sort of surprised this just came out yesterday since I feel like it’s been out forever. That’s probably because it was released in the UK at the end of February and I’m sure it leaked even before that. (Shame on you, Melissa).

With that said, I’ve obviously had a ton of more time to digest this release then I had with any of the other two this week. So it will be a lot easier to give my impressions of it. The indie pop band from Wales (with plenty of punk too, mind you) are most enjoyable when they incorporate both the yelling sing-alongs with their violin, glockenspiel and less abrasive vocals.

A good example and probably my favorite song on the album would be “Knee Deep at ATP.” Here we are given a solid mix of the frantic instrumentals/shouting vocals with the soft violin/overlapping male and female vocals. It is this giving and taking of one and the other that makes Los Campesinos! who they are, and what works best for them.

Among other songs, “This Is How You Spell ‘Hahaha, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics’” (despite it’s obnoxious title) is another example of the perfect marriage of styles the band gives listeners.

It’s a formula that can certainly go wrong and rub some the wrong way. “Don’t Tell Me To Do The Math(S)” would be an example of that. But other than the rare shortcomings, Hold On Now, Youngster... proves to be a great first release from a great new band.

"Death to Los Campesinos!" can be found on their MySpace.
You can purchase the album here.

Up next: Yelle's Pop-Up and The Black Keys' Attack and Release.

Our Kanye Fetish Continues

I was going to skip posting this when I came across it, but our love affair with Kanye and Justice was continued when I posted the recent fan video of Justice's "Phantom Pt. II" so I figured I had to put this up.

This was originally my favorite song off of Graduation after I played the hell out of "Can't Tell Me Nothing" on the mixtape that preceded the full-length. Of course after a week this song, "Homecoming," was already a bit stale. "I Wonder" is currently my number one, but as we've said 100x before: it's a great album all around. Yes, even "Drunk and Hot Girls."

Stereogum Interviews The Dodos

As I gear up for what should be an amazing show tonight, I stumbled upon Stereogum's interview feature "Quit Your Day Job," which features The Dodos this week. You may recall that they are playing tonight at Cafe Nine.

There really isn't much else to say besides check it out and see you tonight.

Looking for Writers

I posted this via MySpace, but can never tell if anyone cares over there so I'll say a similar thing here. We're looking to expand the blog a bit, especially in the lower Massachusetts (Northampton, Worcester) and Rhode Island (Providence) areas.

We will admit - or at least I will - that we do not know the ins and outs of the those places like we do Connecticut. So if you're tapped into the scene over there and have fairly similar taste in music, please e-mail us or leave us a comment if you want to write. Ed and Melissa are sometimes busy people, so the more help I can get, the better.

If you're from Connecticut, don't be afraid to get in touch either. We could always use another Connecticuter too. Our e-mail is morelikeasixfootturkey@gmail.com.

Almost Forgot: The Dodos on Wednesday

We already talked about Beach House on Tuesday, but what we forgot to mention was The Dodos on Wednesday at Cafe Nine in New Haven. Cafe Nine calls them "experimental psych/folk/blues" so take what you want from that. I'll personally take the folk and the psych, and that's how I would describe them.

The acoustic guitar/drums duo can be seen for $7 with Silje Nes. The band released Visiter on Frenchkiss Records (also home of Les Savy Fav and The Hold Steady) on the 18th on this month. The video for the fourth song, "Fools," off that album is below for your viewing pleasure.

Fan Made Justice Vid

God, are we lazy or what? We have an excuse though. We're working on something BIG. I'm not going to go into crazy details until it launches, but you'll see when it comes. Anyways, you may or may not have seen the video to Justice's "Phantom Pt. II" floating around the Interweb. It's below. We spoke briefly about the official video here.

I don't know which one I like more, but for an unofficial video it is certainly well done. Daniel Bloomberg put it together, in case you were wondering.