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.

New Grizzly Bear Dates, Song

Ed and I were having a conversation today that went something like:

Me: "So, we can't go to Death + Taxes because the editors said they're shooting Grizzly Bear for their cover tomorrow."
Ed: "... Yeah, they're probably doing it tonight at a show and will be hungover for Thursday, which reminds me, I want to check out [Grizzly Bear] dates."
Me: "They're playing with Radiohead a lot this summer, you know, maybe for festivals and stuff."
Ed: "Hmmm." (in agreement)
Me: "I can see them touring together. I can see their sounds being similar/being good in concert together."
Ed: "Yeah kind of."

Weird. I'm thinking we'd be remiss here at the Turkey if we didn't even touch on all of the Grizzly Bear news going on, especially after they've announced an actual tour with Radiohead for August '08. They'll be playing in Chicago, IL for Lollapalooza, Noblesville, IN, Cuyahoga Falls, OH, Montréal, QC and a few more dates towards the end of August: 8/12 at the Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ; 8/13 at the Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts, Mansfield, MA; 8/15 at the Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto, ON.

Although they are playing on different days, both Grizzly Bear and Radio head will be making stops at the All Points West music festival at Liberty State Park, NJ with the former on Friday, August 8 and the latter on Saturday, August 9.

In other news, Grizzly Bear's latest "While You Wait for the Others" is spreading like an infection and you can listen to the (live on KCRW) version on the band's Web site (at the same link, you'll find a video of them playing the song on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" Monday, April 21).

New Lily Allen Provides Another Summer Jam

We fell in love with the new Roots single earlier this week (and the idea of playing it in our cars in 80 degree weather) and the same goes for some new material from one of our favorite Brit pop artists of 2006, Lily Allen.

Well, she's back again and with a different sound and look. She's blonde now (see photo) and two demos were just tossed up on her MySpace to give fans an idea of what direction she is taking her next album.

I enjoyed Alright, Still but it didn't get a ton of spins after the first month or so. With that said, "I Don't Know" already seems to have a bit more lasting power for me. "I Could Say" isn't bad either.

Both tracks definitely have a more pop sound to them.

The Man Behind Not Brooklyn Fest and Manic Productions

This is all Ed here, but he's way too lazy to even copy and paste something he already wrote. I know, it's impressive. He wrote this piece for The Recorder, so we'll give you a peak here and link you over to save some space. Enjoy.

While you have read his or his company’s name, most of you don’t know who “Manic” Mark Nussbaum is or what exactly he does in the scheme of the Connecticut music scene. Recently, he announced that Manic Productions, along with WXCI 91.7, will be putting together a two-day festival, which headlines with Cursive and Dead Meadow. Along with the two headliners, there are a dozen or so local and national acts.

Edward Gaug: Can you give us the short history of Manic Productions and how it came to the position it is in now?
Mark Nussbaum: Sure, originally I was the [merchandise] person for the Flaming Tsunamis and I would help them out at shows, selling their merch and then some of the dudes in the band started Kill Normal Records, which I’m sure you are somewhat familiar with. I started helping Andy and Ethan book those shows and promote those shows. Eventually, I got interested in trying my own thing out. It just kind of snowballed from that, booking more and more shows, trying to book bands I’m really interested in.

Gaug: Can you remember what the first show you booked by yourself was?
Nussbaum: I did a show at the Arts Barn (Madison, Conn.) back in April of 2002 and it was River City Rebels, Grover Dill and this band Slackjaw, another local band.

Gaug: More recently you have been doing shows with Chinese Stars and Why? and now you have two bigger bands like Cursive and Dead Meadow as a part of your upcoming Not Brooklyn Festival on April 18 and 19. How has working with bands changed now that you’ve been doing this for almost six years?
Nussbaum: It’s much easier talking with bands, ‘cause you have to learn as you’re going. You need to know what you have to do to make bands happy. The experiences are pretty much the same working with a smaller band or a bigger band. They are both on the road trying to play shows.

Gaug: Speaking of Not Brooklyn Festival, you have two days of music lined up at Heirloom Arts Theatre in Danbury, how did you get the idea for the festival and what are you hoping to accomplish when all is said and done: is it promoting the locals bands you have playing, promoting the new venue or getting some exposure for the company?
Nussbaum: Jay, who owns the venue, told me the radio station (WXCI 91.7 FM) contacted him to put together a day or two of music for what is now a festival. We had done a couple shows there before, like Melt-Banana and No Age and a few others, so he asked me to jump aboard. I have never done a festival before and what better way to do it than at a new venue and splitting it with someone else, doing it by myself would have been way too much work. I basically started contacting bands that I like and thought would do well here. For accomplishments, we definitely want to get as much exposure as possible to the local bands, that’s why we put a lot of bands from New Haven on, which I’m really excited about. Also, we put some Danbury bands on there because the show is in Danbury. We are trying to get the locals exposure, but it also helps promote our company, it helps promote the venue as well and the radio station has real ly been helping us out.

Gaug: Earlier, I brought up the name of the festival, Not Brooklyn, and I have been trying to field that question to everyone I talk to about the shows. So what is the actually story with Not Brooklyn?
Nussbaum: Well, I was sitting in my living room and my roommates and I were trying to think of a name. We came up with the name Not Brooklyn Fest because I had just lost a few shows to Brooklyn and that’s why we chose Brooklyn. It also goes to show people that things are happening outside of major markets like Boston and Philly and Brooklyn. Things are going on in Connecticut and we want bands to be aware of it. Even people in Connecticut complain that they always have to travel out of state to see good shows and that’s not always true. People don’t really take the time to do research and that’s why we promote our shows so much, to try to get the word out. There definitely could be more going on around here and that’s what we’re trying to do overall; get things happening in Connecticut. We could definitely move to a bigger city and get more shows, but we really don’t feel the need to. I’ve grown up here my whole life and I want to stay where I’m needed.

You can check out the rest of the interview here.

Tapes n' Tapes on Conan Tonight

Tapes n' Tapes must be pretty busy.

They just released Walk It Off yesterday and tonight they will be on Conan O'Brien (check your local listings!). I was going to link to a review I thought Ed did, but apparently someone else did. And he said it sucked and despite me only listening through the album a handful of times I'm going to have to respectfully disagree.

You can't call Tapes n' Tapes an annoying band name either when 1. what? and 2. there's 100x worse band names out there. Does It Offend You, Yeah? anyone? I will link you to this Rolling Stone review because I couldn't find anything else.

Tomorrow the band kicks off a nice and long tour in Minneapolis and will actually be coming our way a bit.

4/17 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, Mass.
4/18 - Fillmore New York - Irving Plaza - New York, NY
4/19 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY

Llove Photos from Panic Last Night

Since I'm lame and decided to not be hungover this morning as I woke up for work at 6 a.m., I skipped Llove's set at the Panic dance party last night in Providence. Lucky for us, Lara Callahan, resident Panic photographer, just put up some sweet shots.



Llove

These aren't all of them obviously. So if you want to pretend you were there, visit Llove's MySpace (linked above) and go through these photos.

Llove at Providence Dance Party Tonight

I absolutely love Chromeo, so when I ever get the chance to drop them in a comparison discussion you should know that I'm also taking kindly to that band too. Providence-based band Llove will be playing at Panic's weekly dance party tonight at Club Hell and yes the Chromeo comparison fits.

They are much more on the club/dance range as opposed to Chromeo's funk/disco, but the voice box, quirky lyrics and very danceable tunes all fit the comparison. Llove played at Brown University's radio station and you can see one of the songs performed below.

Club Hell is located at 73 Richmond St. in Providence. Panic's MySpace says it's $5 to get in usually, but you can also RSVP via MySpace for reduced admission.

Dark Meat in New Haven on Thursday

Another recent Vice Records signing will be at Two Boots (277 Fairfield Ave.) in Bridgeport on April 10 with Monotonix. That signing would be Dark Meat. The psych-rock band consisting of about six thousand members, or a still lofty 17.

There's also a few things you need to know about today. Tonight is night two of the band's kick off for their big tour. If you happen to be in Brooklyn you can find them at Union Pool. Today also marks the rerelease of Universal Indians with a few live tracks tacked on. Finally, if you want to get a sneak at Monotonix they will be in Danbury tonight at Larry's on Elm St.

Amazon's product description of Universal Indians actually does a fantastic job:
"Imagine the Stooges meeting Crazy Horse with killer marching band horns, wailing gospel backing vocals, ripping Eddie Hazel guitar leads, and Albert Ayler free jazz freakouts. Athens' Dark Meat, a 17-piece hippie rock fest featuring double drums, boundless guitars, massive horns, strings, and ensemble voices, has been giving earth-shaking performances all over the south for the last three years."

Download (courtesy of Vice):
Dark Meat - Freedom Ritual

Sort of Last Minute, But

If you happen to be in or near New Britain and you aren't doing anything tonight we may have solved that problem for you. I just found out a little while ago about a little show happening at the Art League of New Britain located on Cedar St.

Lewis and Clarke are playing at 7 p.m. No idea on how much, but it's probably free or dirt cheap. The band released Blasts of Holy Birth last year to some decent reviews. I would go into the little I've just heard of the release, but the first couple sentences of this A.V. Club review does it perfectly.


"Joanna Newsom's hubristic Ys was enough to put many off chamber-folk for a while. Too bad they didn't hear Blasts Of Holy Birth first."

If you're really lazy I will let you know they gave the album an A-. Pitchfork gave it a 6.8 and Flagpole (Athens, GA-based alt paper that no one cares about but me) gave it a good non-number/letter review.

If none of that convinced you, maybe the fact that the man behind the band, Lou Rogai, collaborated on the album with Man Man's Russell Higbee (harp).

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.

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.

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.

Eels Canceled For Sunday, But Wait There's More

What was a solid 3 out of 4 days of music starting this Saturday has been slightly derailed thanks to the Eels canceling their Sunday show in New Haven. Sadly that one didn't work out, but there's still two great shows coming up.

First is Wussy on Saturday at Cafe Nine in New Haven. For those of you who don't know, Wussy was formed as Ass Ponys broke up in 2005. Chuck Cleaver, vocalist and guitarist for both bands, formed Wussy and released two albums on Shake It Records. Funeral Dress in 2005 and Left for Dead this past November.

Now I haven't been able to get my hands on Left for Dead yet, but their label said, "From swampy-Americana to Velvet Underground infused folk to bedroom-produced pop-jems." All I know is that "Mayflies," off the album certainly has that folky, but more towards the direction of Rilo Kiley, oddly enough.

Second is Beach House, who have been getting a ton of great press since their sophomore effort, Devotion, hit stores exactly one month from today. I was told during Why? that is was no where near as good as their self-titled release, but I'm not much of a judge since I've just heard the latest. Either way, Beach House will be at Wesleyan University on Tuesday and as per usual it is free.

I probably shouldn't leave the one artist playing these next few days (tonight to be exact) that I actually know something about. While you won't catch me paying $20 to see him, Talib Kweli will be at Toad's Place in New Haven. This summer's Eardrum was in pretty heavy rotation for me and I actually enjoyed it a hell of a lot more than Common's whatever he put out (not looking it up, it sucked). Ed even briefly mentioned the guy in the Best Hip-Hop of Our Generation discussion late last year AND didn't get shit on by a few people on a Rawkus Records message board. Now that is saying something for Ed, congrats. Good times all around.

New Stuff Ft. Kid Sister

A bunch of people have been saying that this track will either be instantly loved or hated. At first this track just sounded like too much noise to comprehend, but I started getting into Kid Sister and the U.K.'s The Count & Sinden's "Beeper." Maybe this song doesn't really count, but for those who have been waiting for something from Kid Sister since her "Pro Nails" and the subsequent remixes, this is a start.

Apparently the song is supposed to be hosted somewhere for a free download, so when I find it, it'll be posted up here.


For now, here's the original video for the song:

Rate My Spring Concert

It's about that time of year. Universities are announcing their spring week concerts where students typically get a rare chance to see relatively big acts for relatively cheap. It's sort of a perk. From my college experience, spring concerts were met with disappointment and jealousy of nearby schools getting more relevant acts.

Two years ago, my school was able to land the highly coveted act Lifehouse, despite the fact that they haven't been popular since 2001. Last year we got Busta Rhymes, which wasn't awful, but again he didn't put out a worthwhile album since the late 90s. Although to CCSU's credit, he did have a hit in 2006.

This brings us to this year. What school flopped and what school actually got it right? Before I get to that I want to just throw out the question and if someone can answer it that would be wonderful. Who picks these acts? I know it is the students, but I just imagine some grad student in their mid-20s thumbing through her out of touch CD collection when these bands are picked.

The Winner: Brown University
Holy shit. Leave it to the rich and intelligent kids to pull off this. Day one, which is April 11 but don't worry tickets are sold out, is Lupe Fiasco AND Vampire Weekend. If I ever attending a school that featured a song and a half with either of those acts I would be happy. But wait, there's a day two. April 12 brings in M.I.A. AND Girl Talk. I don't think I need to go on about how great that weekend is. And the whole weekend comes in at $27 total for students. Someone knows how to plan a spring weekend at Brown. You have sweet, big name, expensive headliners and then fairly cheap, but just as amazing opening acts. You win. A+.

The Losers: Everyone else
I'm almost kidding, but here's a run down on some of the other local colleges I've gotten wind of so far and if you know of any other's -- whether they are worth noting or worth making fun of -- please leave a comment.

The University of Connecticut
I'm giving UConn a big C- on this one with the ability for a retake if something else is announced. Their site says no announcement until March 24, but I already heard Jason Mraz (known strictly for "The Remedy" and his appearances on VH1's I Love the 90s) was going to be there. A photo of him, what looks to be a comedian that I don't recognize and another (presumably) worthless act rounds out this spring concert. For a university that has had the likes of Nas just a couple years ago and are known for bringing in solid acts, this is a big step backwards into the land of state schools.

Speaking of...
CCSU
I'm going to give Central a B- just for actually being relevant believe it or not. You may hear the bill Fabolous and OneRepublic and cringe, but both have had hits in the last 12 months or so. Also, "Apologize" is great in a radio-type of way. CCSU is usually the one to book a band like OneRepublic 5-6 years after their hit single, so congrats on not completely blowing this one.

ECSU
Here we go! Eastern "pulls a Central" bringing in Third Eye Blind, though if we want to be fair Third Eye Blind is a bit more on the relevant side than Lifehouse. There will be plenty of people who eat this up, but it still deserves a C.

I didn't see any information on SCSU or WCSU. Feel free to pass it on.

Wesleyan University
Now to the private schools with inevitably more money and therefore better concerts. If you check our calendar you'll see this school is doing A LOT of good things. Beach House next month for one and if I confirm YACHT is the YACHT I know and love, then that will be another one. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but The Cools Kid's MySpace says they will be at the school on May 7. If that's the start or even the end of the spring concert then I can already hand over an A-.

No news from Trinity or University of Hartford, but Trinity will be holding their International Hip-Hop Festival on April 4-6. I don't believe that counts as their spring concert, but it is free and is in that time frame, so I'm tossing it out there.

Sacred Heart is bringing in Ne-Yo and T-Pain, which has to be given the same grade as CCSU, a B-, just for being relevant. It's not a good lineup by any means, but it isn't Lifehouse or Reel Big Fish. Yale is bringing in some hip-hop, apparently. But no news on who yet. No word on Fairfield U. Or Clark University, Holy Cross, WPI or URI for that matter. So yeah, anything in the Providence, lower Mass., Connecticut area that I missed let me know.

Editing Can Make Anyone Good

So this Norwegian guy can't play the drums or the piano at all, but he can edit video really well. This is actually really cool and came out really awesome, and serves as a post. Ed and Melissa are in NYC at the moment and I was doing things this weekend, so yeah, enjoy.