Ted Leo - "Dancing in the Dark" (live)

It seems as if these days it is impossible to turn on the television, open the internet, flip through a magazine, listen to music without running into Bruce Springsteen. From The Hold Steady to The Arcade Fire every indie band is citing him as an artistic touchstone. He played the inauguration, released a new album out, and will play the superbowl. Not bad for someone from New Jersey. I can't say I ever really caught Springsteenitis, but I like a few bands who have, namely Ted Leo & The Pharmacists. In fact, Ted has been proudly displaying his love of Springsteen long before it has become popular, and when I saw his solo concert a month ago he did a rendition of "Dancing in the Dark," a crowd favorite. Here is a little taste of Ted Leo covering Springsteen courtesy of Bruce Springsteen's own website:

Super Furry Animals & Times New Viking Concert

Super Furry Animals & Times New Viking Concert

Times New Viking’s live show is somewhat of a paradox in that they sound more clear than they do on their albums. This, of course, is by design. I would be hard pressed to find another band more dedicated to a lo lo fi aesthetic. I was surprised to discover that the male vocalist of the group was actually the drummer, Adam, and not the guitarist. In a live setting the simple drums seemed to propel the performance, thanks in part to Adam having the most active stage personality, even playing the drums while standing up towards the end of the set. Adam introduced the first four songs as pop song number… in ascending order: “pop song #1, pop song #2, etc.” And I suppose that’s exactly what they played: precise, concise pop songs. With most, if not all, of the songs under three minutes long, the set flew by, and if I didn’t have the albums in the back of my head, then I’m not sure how much of an impact the band would have made. Of course, I’m already a convert so I was ready to pray at the altar of Times New Viking.

About three-quarters of the way through Times New Viking’s set, the drummer told the audience that this was the point where they should drop their acid. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Times New Viking’s sound is light years away from rock music conducive for psychedelic drugs, also know as self-indulgent jam band wankering. There is a reason why certain kinds of bands are heavily associated with drugs: they’re too fucking boring to listen to with a clear head. I will admit I was a little afraid that Super Furry Animals, whose music seems intricately geared towards headphone listening, would fall into the “music to drop acid to” category. Thank the gods Super Furry Animals knew that when they show up live it’s time to bring the rock.

Only a handful of songs were chosen from their latest album, Hey Venus!, but more tellingly they chose only one song from Love Kraft, their most laid back studio work. Instead the set list was culled evenly from their entire discography, heavily relying on crowd pleasers and their more pop oriented productions. Lead singer Gruff Rhys came out on stage in a space helmet stolen straight from the set of “Out of this World.” Continuing this cosmic theme, the second song out was the undeniably catchy “Rings Around the World.” On no less than three occasions the band played three songs titled “Uuuuurth 1,” Uuuuurth 2,” and Uuuuurth 3” where they encouraged the audience to participate by placing their hands on their head and wiggling their fingers. Were they trying to call the Grays from behind Venus using us as some kind of antennae, or were they just trying to make us look really stupid. Probably the latter, but I didn’t particularly care. Among the highlights was “Receptacle for the Respectable” where lead singer Gruff Rhys ate a carrot as a part of the percussion section. Gruff even brought back the space helmet towards the end of the show. As they played the final song the band members held up two signs: one with the word Boston on it, in the font of the wonderfully cheesy band; the second, a sign stating “resist false encores.” True to their word it was their last song. Of course, I didn’t mind, it would have been greedy to ask for anything more.

Foo Fighter's Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of The Colour and The Shape

Just this week the 10th Anniversary Edition of The Colour and the Shape was released. No, they didn't change the spelling to match American-English Dictionaries, but they did add some unreleased tracks. Most of which I downloaded long ago (ahhhh, the days of Audiogalaxy...sigh).

The Colour and the Shape was a windows down in the summer album, it was also the kind of balls to the wall guitar driven pop that most bands aren't making anymore. I'll always prefer the first album but I can't argue with great songs like "Hey, Johnny Park!" or "Enough Space." I should bill Dave Grohl for blowing out the speakers of my Ford Escort (stranger litigation has happened). Below is a live rendition of one of the b-sides, oddly enough entitled "The Colour and the Shape" in the wonderful tradition of naming an album after a song that didn't make the cut (see Ted Leo's Living With the Living/"Living With the Living.")

Keep your eye on Dave Grohl. I didn't know that muthafucka' could transport too!

The Duke Spirit - Cuts Across the Land (acoustic)

Here's The Duke Spirit doing an acoustic rendition of "Cuts Across the Land" at Sonic Boom Records in Seattle. Apparently the lead singer's voice is just as unique sans studio. The cameraman does seem a little too interested in the tambourine, or is it something else he's zooming in on?




If you'll excuse me I want to run out and by the latest issue of Paste magazine.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Suspect Device (live)

Here's a video of Ted Leo doing a Stiff Little Fingers cover.



I love Leo's covers, they give his shows a bar band feel.