Mother's Day Download from Middle Distance Runner

For those in the Hartford area, you may have caught Middle Distance Runner on accident or maybe even on purpose at one of a couple Shag Frenzy nights that they've played at. They were last here in October.

They just put up their new track "Momma" up and is now available for download (grab it below). I definitely have to recommend getting it now. I might as well recommend their self-titled EP too, which came out last year.

The band said this about the new track and more new music to come on their MySpace blog:

"Dear John Q. Public,  

It's been a while since we last talked, but that's not because we're lazy or angry with you. It's because we're recording! A lot! Boyoyoing!

In acknowledgement of Mother's Day, we've recorded an apocryphal ditty of ours called "Momma". See, it was hidden on our debut album, Plane in Flames, but you had to be very clever to find it...

With the help of some of our most attractive friends, we've recorded a MUCH better version. It's got EVERYTHING! Trumpets! Choirs! Banjos! Even hip hops!"

Middle Distance Runner - "Momma"

Venue Change for Death Cab Tonight

I would hope that if you're going to be seeing Death Cab for Cutie tonight in Providence that you already know this, but just in case you don't. Due to shitty weather the band is moving from the pier to Meehan Auditorium on the Brown University campus. The address is 235 Hope St.

They will be releasing their follow-up to 2005's Plans soon. May 13th, to be exact. Narrow Stairs, the name of the album, was leaked sometime last week. I haven't given it a listen, but may eventually get around to it. Plans didn't exactly make me fall in love with the band all over again, so I can wait.

Say Anything/Saves The Day Dual Two Tongues

In news coming from Rolling Stone and Alt Press, Say Anything front man Max Bemis will be joining his idol, Saves the Day's Chris Conley in a side project titled Two Tongues comprised of members from both bands. Other members will include SA's Coby Linder on drums and STD's David Soloway on bass. A record deal is in the works right now and Conley is hoping they have some material streaming online this summer before their tour begins in the fall.

While I personally love both of these bands, I have been disappointed by each band's latest releases. I am still trying to digest Say Anything's epic 27 track, dual disc album for everything that it's worth.

As soon as more details trickle out or the band puts up a MySpace, I'll let you all know.

Not Just the Cool Kids Tonight

As much as we flat out love the Cools Kids, it would be a crime to not mention the other acts for Wesleyan's spring concert that is happening tonight. I just stumbled upon this now, but GZA will be headlining and not only that, he'll be playing Liquid Swords front to back.

Liquid Swords, in case you don't know, is acclaimed as one of the best rap albums ever. Yes, it is that good. And you could hear it all live. Rather insane to think about. The Hold Steady will be supporting. You may remember their album that everyone loved in 2006 - Boys and Girls in America. They are currently working on/wrapping up their follow-up, Stay Positive, which will drop in July.

Of course, the Cool Kids will be there too. Their EP to precedes their highly anticipated full-length drops this month. If that wasn't enough for one night, The Hood Internet will be spinning between sets. This horrendous quote was put in Wesleyan's newspaper regarding the Hood Internet:

“Instead of listening to Creed or Counting Crows between each set, we’ll skip the usual lulls and maintain the awesomeness indefinitely,” said Social Committee member Derek Silverman ’09.

How groundbreaking, a Creed dig. 

Side note: Why would you have acts like Talib Kweli (previously came to Wesleyan) and the ones mentioned above playing live and then have someone playing Creed in between sets? How is that even possible? It's not by the way, which is why that dig is even dumber because the dude had to go out of his way to make it. Yes, that did bother me.

Edit: Oops. Looks like we dropped the ball on this one. As I type this (almost 5 p.m.) Cool Kids and Hold Steady already went on. I assume GZA will be on soon. Oh well. If you went let me know how it was.

Even Santogold's B-Sides Are Great

First, did you know Santogold graduated from Wesleyan? That makes me love her 10x more - that's even possible.

Another reason to love Santogold more than you already do is the b-side floating around now. If you haven't caught her self-titled debut (dropped on 4/29), get it. The A.V. Club gave it a 91, while the Hartford Courant, New York Times and Village Voice all gave it an 80. If I had to slap a number grade on it, I think a 86 would be appropriate.

Anyways, you can download or stream (whichever you prefer) "Your Voice" on RCRD LBL. The online record label also has a number of other great songs that actually appear on the album.

New Dandy Warhols Out Today (Sort of)

Today marks the release of the Dandy Warhols' latest album, Earth to the Dandy Warhols, at least via AMI Jukeboxes (no idea what that is). In all actuality, the album drops on 19th. It's their first one in three years and takes the band back to their own label, Beat The World Records.

In the meantime, the band has made the first track off the album available for download now.

The Dandy Warhols - "The World The People Together (Come On)"

Keeping with the Comics: Two New Trailers

I believe I mentioned this during my short review on Iron Man on the post below, but before that movie showed two new trailers for The Dark Knight and The Incredible Hulk. I'm not 100% sure how new the Hulk one is, but I know the Batman one debuted in theaters this weekend.


The Dark Knight

The Incredible Hulk

So How Was Iron Man?

One word: Good.

The long version: Batman now has a very tough act to follow. Anyone with any interest in this comic book turned movie knows most of the details (Robert Downey Jr. stars as Iron Man, etc) and perhaps if you even have that much interest you may have already seen it. In case you haven't, do yourself a favor and dish out the $8-10 and catch it in theaters.

The cast is great. Downey revives his career with this movie. (Quick side note: Just checked his IMDB and he's listed as Tony Stark aka Iron Man in the credits for the new Hulk movie...interesting). Jeff Bridges is fantastic. This may be his best performance since The Big Lebowski, but then again I didn't see Seabiscut (that was supposed to be good, right?). Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow round out a pretty solid cast.

Howard as you may know plays Jim Rhodes aka War Machine. For those who saw the movie or the newer television trailer will see the scene alluding to War Machine. This is definitely one of the better new comic book movies we've seen in a while. I say new as in not a sequel. Sin City and V for Vendetta excluded.

If you have any interest in this at all from the trailers definitely go out and see it. For what it's worth, my girlfriend who doesn't know a thing about the whole Iron Man world throughly enjoyed it. So yeah, it's just a good film.

It's doing great in the box office too. The AP reported that "Iron Man was the 10th biggest opening of all time and the fourth biggest for a superhero movie. Among nonsequels, it came in behind only the first Spider-Man, which premiered with $114.8 million."

PS: If you haven't heard yet that you need to stay through the end of the credits, make sure you do so.

Edit: Marvel has just announced that Iron Man 2 will be released on April 30, 2010. I know I'll be there. - Ed

Monthly Mixtape: May

So I decided to start making monthly mixes of tracks from the previous month's releases. This is my first one and the May 2008 version. It mainly consists of albums from April, but I dip into March since this is the first one.

1. Neon Neon - "Raquel"
Off the band's 3/18 release, Stainless Style.

2. Santogold - "You'll Find a Way"
Off her self-titled 4/29 release.

3. Cut Copy - "Lights and Music"
Off their 4/8 release, In Ghost Colours.

4. Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin - "Oceanographer"
Off the 4/8 release, Pershing.

5. M83 - "Kim & Jessie"
Off the 4/15 release, Saturdays = Youth.

6. Blood Red Shoes - "ADHD"
Off the 4/15 release, Box of Secrets.

7. Robyn - "Who's That Girl"
Off the self-titled 4/29 release.

8. A Great Big Pile of Leaves - "The Size of Dinosaurs"
Off the the 4/24 release, The Fiery Works II.

9. Los Campesinos! - "Broken Heartbeats Sound Like Breakbeats"
Off the 4/1 release, Hold on Now, Youngster....

10. Yelle - "Ce jeu"
Off the 4/1 release, Pop-Up.

11. Foals - "Red Sock Pugie"
Off the 4/8 release, Antidotes.

12. The Roots - "Birthday Girl"
Off the 4/29 release, Rising Down (iTune extra track only though, I believe).

13. Hercules & Love Affair - "Blind"
Off the self-titled 3/25 release.

14. The Dodos - "Joe's Waltz"
Off the 3/18 release, Visiter

Edit: Link is down as I said.