New Jealous Sound song surfaces

Check out http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=1358901 for a new Jealous Sound song video. It sounds like the title could be called "Set you Free." This is different than "Big Loves", which is a new song they played earlier in the tour. Very exciting!!!

Sunday's Best

I have really gotten back into the “emo” genre since I saw Sunny Day Real Estate last month. I have been researching previous bands that The Jealous Sound have been in. Their guitarist, Pedro Benito used to be in Sunday’s Best. I picked up their first two albums and have been listening to them non-stop. Their first album reminds me a lot of Mineral and Sunny Day. Their second album is more catchy and the vocals are more of a focus than their first album.
I wonder why this happens to many “emo” bands. It seems as if many of these bands put out their first album with many layers with the vocals layered into the songs. It’s as if the instruments are just as important as the vocals and the vocals are drowned out and often indistinguishable. Then they put out their next album that sounds more produced and the vocals are often more of the focus. This happened with The Promise Ring, The Get Up Kids, Sunny Day Real Estate, and now I see this happened with Sunday’s Best as well. Just an observation.
I also read that Blair Shehan contributed vocals to Say Anything’s …Is a Real Boy. I picked that album up and am really enjoying it. It’s like a sequel to Pinkerton, that Rivers wished he could write today. Man I have a feeling that Weezer’s new album is going to suck big time.
Gonna check out the sold out Brand New/ Manchester Orchestra on Sunday at First Ave!

The Jealous Sound and Sunny Day Real Estate concert review

I am a huge fan of the Jealous Sound and Knapsack. This was the first time in a while where I was more excited for the opening band than the headliner at First Ave. The headliner was Sunny Day Real Estate, so that is saying something about The Jealous Sound. I have been waiting years to see these guys live, let alone hear new material from them. Well, last night I got both!
It was so surreal to see The Jealous Sound. A band that I somehow found out about on a fluke that blew me a way. A band that not many have heard about and keep quiet about what they are doing on their myspace page. There has always been a big mystery about them, but last night it was fun to see them up close and personal.
Everyone by the stage was into them, which made me happy. I, However, was the only one singing along with them. They played all of my favorites. Abandon! Abandon! was amazing. It was great to see Pedro play guitar, and especially for this song.
Their new song was titled “Big Loves” and sounds quite different than their previous material. Maybe not as catchy as their other stuff, but it sounded great. One thing I was curious about was they didn’t perform with Nate Mendel. I read on their myspace blog that they were working with him on their new songs. I suppose his time with both bands is limited, so they need a full time bass player. The new bass player was cool and actually gave me their setlist. I also met Pedro and Blair outside after the show. Very cool gents. They are all nice and appreciative guys and it was an honor to meet these people and hear their amazing music.

Sunny Day Real Estate were on next. They only played one song more than The Jealous Sound (not counting the encore). It was a trip seeing these guys back on the stage together. Besides the great songs they played, it was fun just seeing these guys up on stage looking genuinely happy to be back together. They all had big smiles on their faces. It surprised me to hear so many songs from the pink album. Both Diary and Pink are amazing, but assuming there was tension during the recording of the Pink album, you would think there were be tension on stage during these songs. This wasn’t the case.
I have never seen so many smiles during a concert as I did this show. Everyone was happy to see these guys back at it again, and everyone was taking a trip down memory lane. Best concert of the year!

The Jealous Sound

It saddens me that this band gets little press. The SDRE/Jealous sound tour has started, yet the opening band gets little online coverage. There is plenty of video of SDRE on youtube, but I haven’t found any new Jealous Sound video. I suppose this is usual for opening bands, but this is the first time The Jealous Sound has played in a very long time! I hope TJS gets a lot of new fans, and what a perfect way to get some by touring with SDRE.
I don’t think people realize the influence Blair Shehan had on the scene. Does a little band called Knapsack ring a bell? Well…maybe not. Knapsack started in ’93 and release 3 amazing records. I hope people realize that this guy was there when the scene started and influenced the sound and style of the scene.
I will do my best to take some good pics and video of TJS at First Ave on Wednesday as I am not sure how packed it will be for the opening band. I am still surprised that as of now, the show isn’t sold out.
The Jealous Sound don’t let us in on too much news so I will do my best to update on anything I notice.

Check out a quick blurb here. Nice pic of Blair rocking out.

They uploaded a free a “new” song called Priceless here

Check here often. As this blogger gets a lot of SDRE/TJS info

Hi

Get to the Electric Fetus ASAP this weekend! CDs for $1, $2, and $3!!! Discounted vinyl too! Picked me up some nice finds that I would never have bought otherwise: Superdrag’s b-sides collection, United States of Electronica, Pete Krebs, Preston School of Industry, Sunday’s Best, Halo Benders. Some really good stuff here for dirt cheap! Sale ends 6pm on Sunday.
I pray that the Fetus can stay in business. It appears they are doing a great job to keep business: sales, concerts, and even a download store! Their marketing is very smart and I hope it keeps them alive!
I’m sure everyone knows by now that Pavement is reuniting! A bit too early to announce it though. Not till a year from now. People will have to try not to lose their tickets as they already went on sale for the first 4 announced shows. Here is hoping they come to MN, but not to the Roy Wilkins.
Sunny Day Real Estate kicked off their tour a day earlier than announced in Canada. From what I heard, they sound great!

Japandroids: Turf Club review

Post-Nothing by the Japandroids is one of my favorite records of the year. The entire thing is perfect. From the melodies and lyrics to the little details of the vocal effects, the thing is flawless. It’s a nice, short little record that will always remind me of summer.
Japandroids played last night at the Turf Club in St. Paul. They started off quite well, although it could have been louder. They didn’t have the loud punch that the record gives off. I enjoy the distorted vocals on Post-Nothing and here we got very little distortion. I didn’t mind too much, but the vocals just weren’t as loud as they should have been. The band was full of energy, but their equipment was just very lacking.
I like how they explained their situation: Just because you heard of us, doesn’t mean we have tons of money. This is so true. With blogs giving buzz to so many bands, in the internet world they are huge. In real life they are not so huge. I was expecting this show to sell out, but there were only a handful of people there.
I am dying to find out the name of the cover they played. Their cover song blew me away. More so than any of their originals. Mainly because I was expecting a better sound like I am familiar with the record.
The band banter was entertaining, but got to be too long. People were throwing shoes and socks, which was quite funny. Then their guitar went to crap. Once they switched to the back-up guitar, the show went down hill…fast. They botched “Sovereignty” to the point where I felt embarrassed for them. It was quite hard to watch. The shotty equipment mixed with the band getting drunker was a turn for the worse. They were very apologetic though. To make up for it they played “I Quit Girls”, which they claim they have never played in the States before. It would have been cool, but they butchered that song too. Oh well, Can’t win them all. Hopefully they do better for the rest of the tour. If anyone knows that cover song, please post it!

Brand New to play First Ave

Brand New gets moved to First Ave!!  I just got an email from Ticketmaster announcing that tickets for Brand New at First Ave on 10/04/09 are on sale on 9/10/09.  I clicked on the link and it says that tickets for the Myth are redeemable at First Ave.  You would think Ticketmaster would email everyone announcing the venue change. 

I haven’t been to the Myth before, but I am assuming that it is a larger venue than First Ave.  Most fans have probably already gotten their tickets.  I wonder if there will even be tickets available.  I am so relieved that First Ave is putting on the show because I heard that the Myth is a crappy venue.  I LOVE First Ave.  My favorite Minneapolis venue only behind the 400 Bar. 

Brand New + Manchester Orchestra = Very hard show to top.  

Can’t wait for Sunny Day Real Estate/ Jealous Sound!!!

Ramblings

Haven’t updated in a while as I was without internet for some time. As if anyone actually reads this but me.
New musical things for me:
New Elliott Smith song found at sweetaddy.com message boards. Sadly, the boards will be gone come October. I am hoping someone uploads a ton of unreleased stuff before the boards shut done. Someone already uploaded his entire unreleased collection all in one download.
Looking forward to the Jealous Sound/Sunny Day Real Estate show at First Ave this month. This will probably be the highlight show of the year for me. Both bands mean so much to me and will always remind me of early college. Back when life was so simple. Back when I could blow money on CDs. Music sure has changed since then.
Now both bands are both at it again. Jealous Sound is making new music and I am SDRE do the same.
Such a trip—One former Foo Figher and one current Foo Fighter back together. One who is also working with The Jealous Sound on their forthcoming album. All of it is a dream come true to me. I wonder what the Foo Fighter’s status is that Grohl is now doing the crooked vultures side project. Honestly, I could be happy with less Foo Fighter and more side project.
I love how the Jealous Sound has always been such a mystery. They go away for some time, release an EP out of nowhere, and post a message on myspace. Post another one about the tour, and keep us wating for the next message. In this internet era, you think you can keep up with a band on a weekly basis. I guess the Jealous Sound doesn’t have that much of a public demand for news updates as say how much Pitchfork writes about Radiohead farting on a snare drum.
Speaking of mysterious bands, I am still waiting for The Etiquette to release their new album online. I don’t understand what is taking them so long.
On my way to Chicago tomorrow! Love this time of year!

The Etiquette

One of my favorite bands from my hometown, Milwaukee. I can't express how much I love this band. I saw them by accident at Summerfest while waiting by the stage that the Anniversary and The Promise Ring would later play at. Saw them about 3 times in the early 2000's and listened to their EPs constantly.
Happened to catch them again around 2006 at Summerfest as they played the same day as Kings of Leon.
I would check their website and myspace frequently in the mid 2000's as I thought a full length would have been out. They kept delaying it and I was starting to give up my hope for new material. Just now they are making noise again as they just released their new album titled ...Eons. I believe they were originally going to call it Highly Unstable. I find ...Eons to be a better title, and I believe it is a continuation of the title of their EP, Ages...
So together it would be Ages...Eons.
I now live in Minneapolis and would have loved to have gone to their cd release show in Milwaukee. The band said their album will available on itunes. Hopefully soon...They also mentioned interest in playing Minneapolis!
I highly reccomend picking of their EP and I am positive that I will love the full length.
I found a very interesting article online about the band during the early 2000's. I had no idea they almost signed with a record label and could have been big during the "Garage Rock" scene, ie. The Strokes, The Hives, White Stripes.

My Michael Jackson tribute

I'm sure everyone is getting sick of hearing about Michael by now. Before it gets too old, here are some of my thoughts...
Now that Michael has passed, I'm sure everyone is trying to get a buck out of it. From T-Shirts to a new DVD. I wonder if he was recording up to this point. Doubtful, but there must be some new material in the vault. I don't think he will be putting out material like Tupac.
How about a duet, Nat King Cole or Elvis style? Janet Jackson could put out a duet with Michael. Oh wait...already did that. Well, they could do Scream 2...oh wait, that was a movie. OK, he should get Janet and the Jackson 5 and a bunch of celebrities to do a song. Oh wait, he already did that.
Speaking of movies, anyone remember when Michael and E.T. did a duet? You have to see it to believe it! It's actually a decent song until E.T. fowls it up. It's actually pretty funny. This links shows scenes from Michael's 3D movie Captain EO that they used to show at Epcot Center.
Anyone seen Steve Martin's impersonation of Michael? Pretty funny
Another fond Michael memory was his Sega game Moonwalker. That was classic!

I hear that they are going to put out a dvd of his rehearsals of the tour he was about to do. Should be interesting.
No matter what anyone says about Michael, this is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

Jealous Sound TO TOUR WITH SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE!!!!!

The Sunny Day Real Estate tour was the best news, musically, that I heard all year...until now.
The Jealous Sound posted this on their myspace page:

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Kanye West is practicing next door. Ok, even though that is true, i am writing to tell you that Nate Mendel and Asher Simon are writing and recording our new record with us. Blair and I couldn't be happier. Nate is possibly one of the greatest bass players i have ever heard live or recorded and Asher is absolutely destroying and bringing something very new and special to the band. We have been hearing all sorts of crazy rumors about who is and isn't playing with us as well as some other insane rumors about us going on tour with this band from Seattle called Sunny Day Real Estate. Wait, that one is also true.... I should cut this short, Kanye is going OFF next door and we have been playing this new song over and over trying to get it just right... I think we are super close. This would bring our current song count up to about 5 fully finished and another 5 or 6 only wearing their skeletons. Everything is in it's place friends so, again, thanks for being here and being a part of our lives. It is an amazing feeling indeed. I am assuming we will see you in a couple months, no? Love, Pedro TheJealousSound

Sunny Day Real Estate!!!

Sunny Day Real Estate have announced a reunion!! With all original members! Very excited for this as Diary was the soundtrack of my early college years.
The band will be re-releasing Diary and LP2 with some extras in September.

First Ave date: September 23rd. My guess is that it will sell out in seconds.

Pete Yorn

Pete Yorn tickets for the Fine Line on sale today! 2 dates: August 12 and 13. Get em while you can! Saved me a bunch of Ticketmaster fees and got them at the Fine Line!

Video game stores...

I created a blog to write about music. Today, I would like to rant about used video game stores. Money is tight, but I want to get Pete Yorn tickets. What did I decide to do? Sell some old video games that I don't play anymore. I will never in my life walk into a Game Stop again, and besides, I was trying to sell SNES games.
Let's first go back a few years, and let me explain my hatred towards Gamestop. When I was in a kid in the early 90's there was a store called Funcoland. It was the first used video game store of my knowlege. From what I remember, the store was great! It had tons of stations to try out any video game that you wanted. I remember the new games being over priced, but the used games seemed to be fair. I was into Sega Genesis at the time.
I got into N64 and PS2 later on, but I always had a love for the old NES which I never owned. When I was in high school/early college, I bought an old NES for about 20 bucks or so. This was around the late 90's/early 00's when Funcoland seemed to be phasing out the NES. They were selling systems and games, but they weren't too interested in buying unless you had some rare game like Zelda with the gold cartridge. They were selling games for dirt cheap and I had a blast playing NES with my friends. The employees at Funcoland weren't as nice as they were when I was 11 and they would give me wierd looks when I would come up to the counter with a stack of NES games.
Then one day Funcoland turned into Gamestop...
I still went into the store, but my interest gradually turned into hatred.

Scenerio 1.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
This game was huge! I decided to get the game the day it came out. All stores were sold out...except for Gamestop...only if you bought the players guide with it. That would cost you another 20 bucks. They told me I should have reserved a copy at there store.

Scenerio 2.
The PS2 was still a hot item, but I was losing interest in videogames. I decided to sell it while I could still make a buck off of it. I took great care of my PS2 and games. Never had a problem with it...until I brought it into Gamestop. For some mysterious reason, when they tested it there, the screen was distorted. I was shocked! He told me he would give me 20 bucks to take it off my hands. I left and sold it at Pawn America for a decent price. They didn't even check to see if it worked.

Scenerio 3.
The wii was still hard to get after the 2nd Christmas season that it was out. My sister-in-law wanted one for her son. My wife called Gamestop and they told here there was a good chance there would be a wii shipment at 12:00. I went there and the guy treated me as if I should have known there would be no chance for a wii. I explained that my wife called and he acted like I was a complete idiot.

Now I came to accept that there will always be video game snobs. There are record store snobs, video rental snobs, and so on. But these are usually at independantly owned stores. I don't see too many snobs at the check out at Best Buy or Sam Goody (When there was one).

Flash forward to 3 years ago. Gamestop wasn't selling used NES games anymore. This brought in a new market. I first saw an old school video game store at the Edina Mall. I was in heaven. The clerk seemed cool and there were tons of great games for NES, SNES, etc. Last year, I saw tons of small island stores in malls that sold used old school games.
I decided to go to the Mall of America and sell my copy of Chrono Trigger at this place called Hi-Score. I know it's a great game, but I don't have the time to play it, and I figured I could get at least 20 for it. Ebay was too much of a hassle, so I went to Hi-Score.
He put the game in this machine that played NES and SNES games, but it wasn't a real SNES. I have seen these emulators for sale before. He put the game in and...all of the data was erased!!!! I had 3 saved games on it, and when he put it in his little machine, they were all wiped out. He asked me if I could save a game so that he could tell that the saved battery feature still worked. It would have taken me 30 minutes to find a saved point and I had my daughter with me. There was no way I had the time. Plus, his machine could have ruined my save feature if I tried to sell it elsewhere. He offerd me 20 bucks, but would have given me 35 if I could have saved it. I took the money. He had another copy of Chrono Trigger at his store for 99 dollars!! I could find it on ebay for 25-30.

Now this is the second time I went to a used video game store where a game of mine hasn't worked. Does anyone know if they have something that makes games appear defective? Please let me know! My guess is that most of the games people bring in are stolen and don't care what money they get for them.
I found some videos of an ex-Game Stop employee that tells about how crappy it is to work there and how they treat their customers, but there has to be someone that knows if they mess with your games. See his videos here. They are quite amusing.

Anyways, that's my rant. I should have gone to Discland, but I figured this Hi-Score place would give me more since they sell it for more. Discland in Bloomington has always been good to me and their clerks are cool.

Prince in new Spin Magazine

Check out the new Spin Magazine for a great article about the making of Purple Rain album and movie. Lots of people involved with Purple Rain were interviewed for this. There is also a free tribute album you can download over at spin.com
Lots of great stuff in this issue: Regina Spektor interview and reviews of some great new albums coming out...Although I don't agree with their Pete Yorn review. I am really digging it so far.

Pete Yorn

Pete Yorn tickets for the Fine Line will be on sale this Friday! He is doing 2 shows this summer at the Fine Line. The shows are on August 12 and August 13. These will be very intimate shows compared to his last tour at First Ave. Get your tickets early. He sold out First Ave quite quickly.

In other Pete Yorn news, his album Back and Forth is now available on itunes. Physical copies will be out next week.

Saved by the Bell Reunion

A few weeks ago Mark-Paul Gosselar came on the Jimmy Fallon show. He came on as Zack Morris and never broke character. I can't believe how many obscure references there were! Stansburry was mentioned, Zack did a "time out", even Zack's big phone had the exact ring tone as it did on the show. Him playing "Friends Forever" was the icing on the cake! See the video here: http://videogum.com/archives/late-night/zach-morris_073162.html

I didn't realize a Saved by the Bell reunion was actually becoming a reality. I am compiling some clips here. I got all of my info from http://sbtbnow.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=latestnews&action=display&thread=2909&page=1

The first video is Mr. Belding. He looks HORRIBLE!!! http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2009/03/sign-the-saved-by-the-bell-petition/

Lisa agrees to do reunion here. Although not in person. http://www.hulu.com/watch/66301/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-saved-by-the-bell-reunion-update

Next is A.C. Slater. His performance is almost as good as Zack's. He spoofs the Bayside Radio fundraiser episode. http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/clips/saved-by-the-bell-reunion-update-2-42409/1091232/

These skits are the funniest/best things Jimmy Fallon has done on his show. From seeing Zack and Slater's performances, I think Fallon's writers could pull off a great reunion show.

Black Francis

So the Pixies are touring again...not in the U.S. However Black Francis (aka Frank Black) will be playing in the States. He will be switching off from playing solo acoustic and with his new band Grand Duchy. One of his first dates will be on July 10th at the Triple Rock!!! Very excited for this. I have seen the Pixies at the Roy Wilkins, but not Black Francis himself. Pixies at the Roy Wilkins was probably the only good show ever played at the Roy... The place is horrible for sound. However, the Pixies would be great no matter where they played.
Anyway, Frank Black played here about 2 year ago at First Ave. Didn't make it to the show. Mainly because I wasn't a fan of Fast Man/Raider Man. Didn't want to hear songs from that album and wasn't sure what else he would play He has so much material, I don't know how he picks his sets.
His first 3 albums are amazing. The rest are kind of hit or miss to me. I enjoyed Dog in the Sand, but anything after that is too mellow for me.
He returned to his old name and put out Blue finger, followed by an EP called Svn Fingers. Great stuff in these releases.
Since he will be finishing with the Pixies before he returns to the States, I have reason to believe (am hoping) he will play more Pixies material than normal.
1. Pixies material will be fresh in his mind
2. He will be playing solo/acoustic. Anything can go here-no band to be limited to a certain amount of songs. He probably won't be playing Grand Duchy songs for his solo shows. How many songs can he remember in his head?
3. He is still using his Black Francis name. He already did his Bluefinger tour. Why keep the Francis name? Perfect opportunity to use this character for only Bluefinger/Pixies songs.

No matter what happens. He will be playing a very intimate show with a low stage. Perfect for getting close to frickin Black Francis!!!

Green Day- Minnesota connection

I'm sure loyal fans in Minnesota know that Green Day used to perform around Mankato/St. Peter back in the early 90's. The lead singer's wife went to Mankato State University and he would perform there as an excuse to visit her.
The Mankato Free press is writing articles on why Green Day should perform in Mankato even though they don't have a venue that can hold an average Green Day show. However, they have some cool yet poor quality video of Green Day playing in St. Peter. It seems to be around the Kerplunk era. Check it out here: http://www.katotainment.blogspot.com/

Hexagon Bar, Minneapolis

What a great little venue! I was there on Friday for the first time. I can't believe this place doesn't get mentioned more on MN websites/blogs. The Hexagon has a tiny little stage, but every show is free!!! They get some great shows there. I saw the Black Hollies there on Friday. They are a band from New Jersey that sound similar to the Hives. Great stage presence and energy. They didn't rest through their whole set. One song just led into another. I talked to the guitarist after the show. Very nice and approachable gents!
A local band called Skipper opened the show. 1960's doo-wah feel to them. Comparable to a band I enjoy called Wolfie. Two girls with sailor shirts that sing harmony and a dude on guitar and lead vocals. Enjoyable songs, but the PA sound sucked for their set.
The Birthday Suits ended the show. Didn't have time to check them out, but I hear good things about them.


Black Hollies

Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes

First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
Sun, Aug 9, 2009 08:00 PM



I think it's funny that this show hasn't sold out yet. Last year they played 7th Street to a sold out crowd. Granted, 7th Street Entry is tiny compared to the mainroom. Everyone thought this would sell out in a few days. I still don't see why everyone worships this band. Maybe it's their live performance that is so great, but the songs I hear on the radio don't blow me away as they do to others.

Toadies! St. Paul at Station 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMgYZ9Y2-74