Tonight: Jenny Dalton @ The Nomad

Jenny Dalton MySpace Page
Boom Boom for Everyone MySpace Page
Scattered Trees MySpace Page
Nightinghales MySpace Page

9 pm doors
$5
21+

Fucked Up's Father Damien Bares Soul, Ass, at Reggie's Rock Club in Chicago

Download: Fucked Up - "Twice Born"
Download: Fucked Up - "No Epiphany"

Fucked Up
The Chemistry of Common Life (Matador, 2008)
Grade: A

There's been a lot of talk about common life these days, whether it's political campaigns talking about "Joe the Plumber", or economists talking about how the pure free-market has failed some 40 million Americans without health insurance (to be fair, some of them have undoubtedly made the choice on their own not to have it), or average folks simply discussing how hard it is to get by these days. The significance of a title like The Chemistry of Common Life to current events in 2008 is probably unintentional, but the record's startling contempt for the status quo, it's search for deeper solutions to life's problems, and it's reinvention of hardcore punk's sonic and musical vocabulary (flutes, bongos, multi-tracked guitars) all practically guarantee this album's relevance this year, next year, next decade...well, next century seems to be pushing it. But those listeners who want to be pushed, challenged, and thrilled by the Father Damian's John Brannon-esque roar, or the compositional diversity of his group, can look no further than Life

The Chemistry of Common Life retains all of the righteous fury of first-and-second-wave hardcore bands (and even second-wave emo on "Black Albino Bones") while at the same time introducing a multitude of ambitious ideas--I get a chill down my spine every time the serene, but fatalistically angry, "No Epiphany" comes on, as the track's layered guitars and angelic vocals unquestionably foreshadow a hardcore Loveless. That's not the only song with psychedelic aspirations though. "Royal Swan"'s neo-psychedelia stands up to anything that Black Mountain has released this year (and then some), and "Golden Seal" is the kind of instrumental segue track that would have Kevin Sheids envious. But before you can lull yourself in a droney haze, Fucked Up come back with hard-fisted hardcore, including "Twice Born" and the epic closing title track. Simply put, this is one of the best albums of the year.

Fucked Up recently played a show at Reggie's Rock Club, where they bared their souls by way of the philosophical lyrics, and where singer Father Damien bared his ass using more conventional methods. All photos by Jimmy Farabi. Check them out below:


(Father Damien)













For more, including the opening bands, go here.

(Jonathan Graef)
jon@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com

Cross-published on CIMI.

Photos by Jimmy Farabi

Saturday: Fleet Foxes @ The Cedar Cultural Center

Download: Fleet Foxes - "White Winter Hymnal"
vDownload: Fleet Foxes - "He Doesn't Know Why"

From the First Ave. Twitter:

We are releasing a small amount of tickets to the Late Fleet Foxes show. Should be on Ticketmaster soon.

The show was previously sold-out. Hop to it. Buy those tickets here.

Show Announcement: Baby Guts @ The Nomad

Tonight: Birthday Suits, Strut & Shock at the Clown Lounge

(Birthday Suits)

What is the Clown Lounge? No, it's not the student lounge at a prestigious Ivy League university. ("I'll thank you not to refer to Princeton that way"). Rather, it is the basement of the Turf Club, and its also the site of two of the most raucously rollicking bands in the Twin Cities. First off will be Struck & Shock, a 50/50 guy-girl quartet who fall somewhere between good old-fashioned garage-rock and the forward-thinking righteous anger of Riot-Grrl. They have a song called "Sexy Never Hurt Anyone". Who am I to disagree?

Next up will be Birthday Suits, a duo more in line with the aggressive tempos and guitar tones of punk (which, as we all know, is garage's unruly kid brother). Three years ago, BS released their debut album called Cherry Blue. There hasn't been much album-length activity since then, but the band has been keeping busy by touring with the likes of Dillenger Four, releasing free downloads via RCRD LBL, and putting out a split 7" inch with like-minded garage-punkers The Blind Shake. While there may not be a whole lot of word regarding a Blue follow-up, listeners can still expect a high-octane show from Birthday Suits.

Here are the set times:

Strut & Shock (10:30)
Birthday Suits (11:30)

Clown Lounge Website

Birthday Suits MySpace Page
Strut & Shock MySpace Page

Live Review: Elf Power

Download: Elf Power - "Spiral Stairs"
Download: Ham1 - "I Wave Back"

Currently, I'm living in State College, PA on a National Science Foundation/NASA grant. It's a sleepy little town full of great drink specials, the people who take advantage of them every fucking night, and absolutely nothing else.

Or at least that's what I thought until last week when I noticed a flier for an Elf Power concert at a local hookah bar called Chronic Town. Three things should give you pause about that last sentence: 1) This one-horse hell has a totally ballin' hookah bar. 2) It's in Pennsylvania, but named after R.E.M.'s first album. 3) Elf Power is playing there.

It's a little weird –I'm still not sure why they'd want to play in the exact geographic center of PA rather than Philly or Pittsburgh- but I can swallow the premise if it means I get to sample some of Georgia's finest.

The show opened up with Ham1. . Their most recent CD is up for free at Ham1.org and it's vastly better than their live show. I'm really into weedy white guys, but these dudes droned on in a dead parade, too uncharismatic for even me to handle.
Moving on, Elf Power was really frustrating. Briefly, the show was a B+ presentation of C material. As someone who was really not into their last two albums, it would be really easy for me to spend the rest of this piece picking holes in the songs themselves, but I won't.

I will, however, pick holes in their set list. The band puts on a marvelous show. They're not an eye candy band, but they've got a lot of enthusiasm and even the dullest songs off of In A Cave and Back to the Web sound at least moderately compelling with the rough finish of a live performance. Compliment of the year? No, but I haven't listened to In A Cave (which I initially enjoyed) since it came out and I have Back to the Web deselected in iTunes. Cave is just the type of album that I feel aggressively ambivalent about, and Web is irritating in a very nebulous way. I recognize that they're touring behind the new album, but the complete lack of any old classics was really quite disappointing.

The show wasn't a total bust, though. When the songs from In A Cave were sped up and the drums turned up, a lot of the pacing issues that plagued their most recent two albums were resolved. The bottom line is this: catching Elf Power is worth it for serious fans of the band who dug the new album. About half the crowd walked out during the set– and you can smoke indoors in PA, so they weren't just craving cancer.

Elf Power MySpace Page

(April Wright)

Live Review: R.E.M., Modest Mouse, and The National, at Chicago's United Center

(R.E.M. with Johnny Marr - "Fall on Me" - Live at the United Center)
Via Stereogum

I realize it's a little late to get this review up, but hey, I just moved cross-country.

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of catching R.E.M. with the National and Modest Mouse (and one Mr. Jonathan Graef). And out of the hundreds of shows I've ever seen, it was in my top five.

Really.

The National opened up and filled Chicago's United Center with sound just as well as they do in a club, despite a small bit of blurring on the horn parts. When translating their music to a live show, The National scaled up the rock aspects of their sound. In particular, "Squalor Victoria" stands out as adapting well to this more muscular live setting. Punctuated by Matt Berninger's howls of the titular name and flashes bright purple stage lights, the song exulted the band's rock influences. While I'm not generally a huge fan of large amount of stage production, seeing the whole band silhouetted against a steamy, multicolored night was pretty effin' sweet.

Playing mostly from Boxer, an album of A+ material if there ever was one, The National proved a tough act to follow for second openers Modest Mouse.

Let me make one thing clear: I really like Modest Mouse on record. A lot. After hearing rumor after rumor that Isaac Brock's voice has gone the way of the dinosaur, I was pretty nervous to see them perform. But they exceeded the expectations I had for them.

Still, it wasn't a very good set. A lot of the material came off We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, which was a pretty good album. On disc. But live, it just sounded brash, flat and same-y, like they were floundering for depth that wasn't there. Compared to the richness of the National's sound, I just kind of felt bad for Brock & Co.

R.E.M., however, was, as always, fantastic. The thing that never fails to knock me flat when I see R.E.M. live is the way in which they revisit their past: The United Center show was as much a celebration of a lifetime of music as it was a celebration of a particular album.

Those who came to the show having only purchased Accelerate might have been a little disappointed. Eight songs (about 30 minutes) in the 2-hour set were from the new album, and they were thoroughly padded with older material. But what can I say? The material they played sounded stellar. The raw production value on the album gives you a perfect picture of what the songs sound like in concert. When I listened to "Supernatural Superserious" for the first time, I could picture exactly what the song would look and sound like live: Peter Buck hitting every note while jumping around in a way that no 40-something should be able to, Michael Stipe singing breathlessly while wiggling like a jellyfish and Mike Mills off to the side being the best bass player in existence. The new material didn't pull punches on the audience; it just singed them with the purest of pure rock and fucking roll.

Mixed in between songs off of Accelerate was a particularly stark, vulnerable breakdown of "Let Me In." Clustered around a piano, the band stomped and clapped their way through the normally fuzz-laden ode to his late friend, Kurt Cobain. (Stipe wrote the song to say all the things he wished he had said to Cobain before Nirvana frontman took his own life in 1994.) "Find the River," the closing track to essential canon entry Automatic for the People, showed up in a retooled format, sporting guitar in place of its standard accordian, updating it to fit with the band's current exuberant rock sound. Other songs, such as "Begin the Begin" were played exactly as they were written 20 years ago.

On this tour, R.E.M. is all about finding and creating cohesion in their catalog. The songs chosen for Friday night's show expressed political frustration and alienation, but also a great deal of hope (not least of all due to Barack Obama, to whom Stipe gave two enthusiastic shout-outs). As someone who has been disillusioned with the band's past few albums, but started to feel hopeful again with Accelerate, the United Center show was confirmation that a new, awesome, powerful chapter in R.E.M. history is beginning.

R.E.M. MySpace Page
Modest Mouse MySpace Page
The National MySpace Page

(April Wright)

Live Review: Rilo Kiley - First Avenue, May 22nd

Download: Spinto Band - "Oh Mandy"
Download: Rilo Kiley - "Draggin Around"
Download: Nik Feritas - "Sun Down"


Rilo Kiley, the poster children of popular indie rock, played a fantastic show to a packed house on Thursday, May 22 at First Avenue.

Opener Nik Freitas started out a relatively short set. He is someone I’m not too familiar with, but I enjoyed the few stray songs I’d heard here and there (mainly the happy acoustic tune "Sun Down," featured on the May release by the same title). I was partially expecting his set to be nothing more than quiet background noise as people trickled into the show, but was pleasantly surprised that his mellow music translates to something quite catchy and lively on stage. Freitas will be coming back to Minneapolis June 30 to play 7th Street Entry.

The Spinto Band are 6 dudes hailing from Delaware who seriously have one of the most oddly fun live presences that I’ve seen as of late, and jammed for 40 minutes right before Rilo Kiley. More often than not it’s a bit of an anticlimactic overkill to have a literal “crew” of band members occupying stage space, especially when the sound isn’t anything to write home about. The Spinto Band, however, brought so much energy with their over-exaggerated, synchronized Beatles body-swaying that it felt like one solid unit, all parties considered. Their sound is somewhere between Blur and modern day Beach Boys with their repetitious drum and symbol explosions high-pitched melodies.

Rilo Kiley experienced a boatload of backlash from hardcore fans and critics alike after its release, calling it "overproduced" and saying that the band had abandoned their profound, heartfelt songwriting skills and in exchange were creating music that sounds like an empty, poorly executed homage to 1960s pop music. I know I’m in the minority by saying this, but I think Under the Blacklight is actually quite a fun, eclectic album, and seeing RK perform those songs live only solidified that opinion. They opened with the sexy, howling ‘Close Call,’ following it with a few more new songs that really exhibited the variety of sound of style that RK are actually capable of pulling of. Jenny Lewis sung her little heart out in all her adorable red-headed glory, but Blake Sennett stole the show with his phenomenal guitar work on songs like ‘The Moneymaker’ and bellowing background vocals on old favorites like ‘Pictures of Success’ (which was definitely a major highlight of the night).

There’s a very good reason that Rilo Kiley’s popularity is continuing to rise; they are an extremely talented and diverse group of musicians, who play together like they were made for one another. Regardless of a few critics and old fans hating on the new avenues Rilo Kiley seems to be feeling out, there’s no denying that when you hear those new songs live, there’s no doubt that their execution is anything but empty.

Nik Feritas MySpace Page
The Spinto Band
Rilo Kiley Myspace Page

(Tara Rogan)

This Weekend: Modern Radio 9th Anniversary Shows

Friday, June 6
Triple Rock Social Club
Yellow Swans(Portland, OR)
Sicbay
STNNNG
FT(The Shadow Government) (Midwest, USA)
Church of Gravitron (Omaha, NE)
18+
8pm

Yellow Swans are playing their last Twin Cities show here for Modern Radio's 9th Anniversary Show. This event doubles as the release party of their final release Deterioration. Additionally, MR stalwarts FT(The Shadow Government) and STNNNG (an MFR favorite) are playing, as are indie power-pop group Sicbay. Listen to three MP3s at the top of the post.




Saturday, June 7
Turf Club
Tornavalanche (Chicago, IL)
Tight Phantomz (Chicago, IL)
Vampire Hands
His Mischief
Double Bird
(members of Signal To Trust)
21+
9pm
sponsored by Radio K

However, if you can't make it the Friday's show, Saturday should be a fantastic consolation prize. Two bands from Chicago, Tornavalanche and Tight Phantomz are playing, as are MFR Favorites Vampire Hands. Also on the bill, making their live debut, is Double Bird, an offshoot of Modern Radio flagship band Signal To Trust. Listen to MP3s of some of the mentioned artists above.

(Jonathan Graef)

Vampire Hands - Me & You Cherry Red

Vampire Hands
Me & You Cherry Red (Modern Radio, 2008)
Grade: B+

Download: Vampire Hands - "Statuette"

It’s always fun to watch a great local band grow in popularity and start to become recognized outside of the city they come from, not due to excessive buildup and overexposure (that was another Vampire band), but because they’re actually incredibly good at what they do. Ambient-rock quartet Vampire Hands have dominated the local scene for a few years now, with beats resembling Sonic Youth and a falsetto that echoes a funkier, acid-rock version of Frankie Vallie if he had been placed in a time machine.

Vampire Hands’ March release Me And You Cherry Bomb doesn’t differ from the trippy, hypnotic sound showcased on Virgin Dust American Lips and 2007’s Cuz It’s a Beach Funeral, but rather skims the edge off their sometimes rattling and raucous sound and cleaning it up with echoing vocal harmonies and catchy melodies. Songs like "No Fun" have a mellow, retro flavor that are soaked in electric guitar solos that would be complimentary in sound to Jefferson Airplane; "Statuette" taps into the roots of Vampire Hands’ older tunes with haunting hymns and modern heavy beats that somehow manage to tap into a sound not entirely unlike Portishead. Me And You Cherry Red is staying in touch with its psychedelic roots, but definitely proves you don’t have to sacrifice melody and conform to one standard sound. And as far as live gigs are concerned, Vampire Hands earned recognition for a reason: they put on one hell of a show.

Vampire Hands are wrapping up a US tour, ending tonight at 7th Street entry with Dead Meadow and First Communion AfterParty.

Download: Dead Meadow - "I'm Gone"
Download: First Communion Afterparty - "The Ebb"

Dead Meadow MySpace Page
Vampire Hands MySpace Page
First Communion Afterparty MySpace Page

(Tara Rogan)

Tonight in Minneapolis: Foals at the 7th Street Entry

UK electro-pop/dance-punk quartet Foals play an 18+ show at the Entry tonight. Tickets are $10 and can be bought at the venue. Go to the show, as the group has a reputation for absolutely being smokin' hot live. Dance the rain away (assuming that it's raining in MPLS like it's raining in Chicago right now). Their latest, Antidotes is out now.

Foals MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Live Music Update: Wolf Parade, Yeasayer, Mill City, The Hold Steady

If you saw any of P4K's coverage of the Man Man/Yeasayer show from a couple of weeks back, then this news should undoubtedly get you excited, even if you've read the news already. Brooklyn's multi-culti experimentalists Yeasayer are going to be playing a free show at the Urban Outfitters in Minneapolis. Good thing the show is free, because I'd imagine everything else is over-priced. Print out your tickets now, and show up to the show on July 30th early, as space is limited.

Get a bigger version of the ticket here.

In other mind-blowing indie-rock news, Wolf Parade, whose second release is still untitled (as of this writing), announced a tour to support said album release. One of the dates on that tour is Minneapolis itself. The Canadian quartet will be stopping by First Ave. on July 9th. Tickets are not on sale to the general public yet, but you can register at this site in order to purchase advance tickets.

On another live show note, The Hold Steady round out the final part of the line-up for the 2008 Pitchfork Festival. Read more about it here.

And, finally, Switchblade Comb announced the lineup for Mill City Live series, in which free outdoor concerts take place at the Mill City Museum. First up on the list is MPLS' own delicate twee-pop quartet The Owls. Read the rest of the line-up here.


Wolf Parade MySpace Page
The Hold Steady MySpace Page
Yeasayer MySpace Page
Mill City Museum Website

(Jonathan Graef)

MFR Contest: Win a Pair of Tickets to Thursday's RJD2 Show at First Ave

Download: RJD2 - "Beyond The Beyond"
Download: RJD2 - "Get It"

With last year's The Third Hand, Philadelphia-based hip-hop instrumentalist RJD2 made a radical change in his style. D2's first two records were largely sample-based affairs, but this third, and most recent, one finds the DJ--who may know through his work with Rhymesayers act Blueprint as Soul Position--both singing and playing live instruments on almost every track.

Whether that new style holds up in a live setting remains to be seen, but those who are curious can find out for themselves when RJD2 plays tomorrow night at First Avenue. MFR plans to help those musical adventurers out by giving away a free pair of tickets to the show!

What do you have to do in order to win these tickets? The answer is simple. By 10 a.m. tomorrow morning, you have to write to jon@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com and tell us what's your favorite record this year so far (on a local or national level) and why. Let's set the word maximum at 250. The best one gets to go, with a guest, to the RJD2 tomorrow.

So, just to review: 1. Write to jon@minneapolisfuckingrocks.com and tell us what your favorite record of the year is. 2. Do so before 10 a.m. tomorrow. 3. If yours is the best, you'll be going to see RJD2 tomorrow for absolutely free.

Sounds good? Of course it does.

Listen to two RJD2 tracks at the top of the post.

RJD2 MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)