Subject: Indie Rock and Indie Pop

• Metric

  June 11, 2009

• Jenny Lewis

  June 11, 2009

• New releases, Tuesday , June 23

  Dinosaur Jr's Farm is currently charting at #1 over at KJHK, Pitchfork gave it an 8.5, and it's on Jagjaguwar, home to such current indie rock faves as as Okkervil River and Sunset Rubdown. I haven't heard it, but considering those three facts, it's probably a safe bet to pick up Farm today and not worry about whether you're wasting your hard-earning scrilla. They're playing on Jimmy Fallon on Thursday, or you can just avoid the whole painfulness of watching an entire episode and check it out on

  June 23, 2009

• Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

  June 25, 2009

• The 2009 Pitch Music Showcase Lineup

  Ask off from work on Friday, August 7, ASAP. This year's Pitch Music Showcase is signed, sealed and ready to be delivered to a Westport near you on Thursday, August 6. The lineup is subject to change, but I kinda hope it doesn't, because, holy shit is this gonna rock. Lots 'n lots of new blood. Wristbands (21-and-up) are available at any of the venues or at The Pitch for the every-year low, low price of $5. This year, for $12, you can get a showcase wristband, a ticket to the awards show at the

  June 30, 2009

• St. Louis’ post-everything rockers So Many Dynamos fight complacency and boring music with The Loud Wars

  July 9, 2009

• Actors & Actresses

  July 23, 2009

• Abe Vigoda

  July 23, 2009

• The Record Machine

  July 30, 2009

• Incoming: Wavves at the Jackpot, September 15

  Wavves is better known for breakdowns and accidents than their actual music. Nonetheless, the band is still the "hype shit" these days. ​ Wavves usually draws comparisons to those bands in Los Angeles' underground noise punk scene (such as the acts that grew up around the Smell club like No Age and Abe Vigoda). Their record's all right. If you dig what the above bands and others like Titus Andronicus and Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts are doing -- that whole no-fi, shitgaze thing -- you'

  July 29, 2009

• New Roman Numerals MP3 available via Topspin

  Kansas City's Roman Numerals have just released a new song through the brand-new online music marketing enterprise Topspin Media. Enter your e-mail in the widget below, and a link to download "Go/No/Go" will be sent to your inbox (or possibly spam filter, as it did with mine -- watch out). If that wee widget looks familiar to you, that may be because you saw much the same thing a few weeks ago when we were blogging about the locally shot film 72 Musicians. That's because the di

  July 29, 2009

• New releases, Tuesday, August 4

  Slim pickings again this week, but there are a few new releases worth checking out. ​Iron Age's The Sleeping Eye is perfect for fans of Fucked Up. This Texas band mixes elements of hardcore and psych rock, although not as adeptly as their Canadian counterparts. The songs are fairly epic, and bear more than a passing resemblance to Mastodon, sounding something like that band's surly, less polished cousins. It is, as the kids say, "brutal." ​No One's First and You're Next is the newe

  August 4, 2009

• Official Guide: 2009 Pitch Music Showcase and Awards

  August 6, 2009

• Pitch Music Showcase MP3-ography: The Beaumont

  In this entry: free MP3s from Grand Marquis, SeedLove, Antennas Up, Be/Non, Hammerlord, Roman Numerals and Pet Comfort, playing at the Beaumont. The Pitch Music Showcase is this Thursday night. In the meantime, we'll be giving you an audio-visual taste of the 28 bands, DJs, rappers and solo artists who are playing for your $5 (buy wristband here) by posting MP3s and photos for, hopefully, all of them. Many of the songs the artists contributed have never been released until now. Remember, there

  August 5, 2009

• The 2009 Pitch Music Awards Winners

  We're still editing photos, videos and verbiage from last night's Pitch Music Awards Ceremony -- and wrestling with the inevitable hangover. In the meantime, join us in congratulating this year's winners. About 4,600 people voted this year, which is really cool. David Wayne Reed -- he of the hot pants-- was the evening's charming host. Inhale (and scroll down) slowly and see. Forester Michael Blues: Trampled Under Foot Country/Bluegrass: the Last Call Girls DJ: Dance: Nomathmatics DJ:Hip-Ho

  August 17, 2009

• Peter Bjorn and John

  August 27, 2009

• Mr. Holland’s Opus: How Robert Holland went from teenage concertgoer to tour manager for big-name rock acts

  August 27, 2009

• AU

  August 27, 2009

• Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

  September 3, 2009

• Incoming: Good Old War at the Bottleneck, September 22

  Good Old War's sound is starting find fans amongst the indie pop fans who've embraced other mellow acts like the Shins and Death Cab For Cutie. Their fans are so devout that you can find dozens of covers posted to YouTube (seriously -- check it out -- kinda frightening). ​It's catchy stuff, if a little sleepy. Their press release name-checks Crosby, Stills and Nash, but I'd put them closer to Band of Horses or Fleet Foxes than anything else. Just put all of Sub Pop's mellow acts in a blen

  September 3, 2009

• MP3: DJ Troublemaker's Remix of Matt & Kim's "Daylight (Featuring De La Soul)

  I think the subject line for this post is longer than the text of the post might be. ​Still, this is an interesting juxtaposition. I can understand De La Soul guesting on a Gorillaz track (and I will still crank up "Feel Good Inc." every time it comes on), but Matt & Kim are so indie, so poppy, so very fey approaching twee that it's a baffling mix going on here. DJ Troublemaker does a fantastic job with it, however. It's so sad that it was for a video game, instead of on 12" wax for club

  September 3, 2009

• New releases, Tuesday, September 15

  Did you know that Uncle Kracker was still making records? Did you care? Then you know that he's got Happy Hour out today. Otherwise, you don't care, and you don't know, and you're okay with that. ​Man on the Moon: The End of Day by Kid Cudi is being called things like "ridiculously intriguing" (the Boston Globe) and "the real deal" (HipHopDX). It's probably going to end up making a lot of top-ten lists come year's end, because it's: A) Good hip-hop and B) Takes risks with Ratatat and MGMT

  September 15, 2009

• The Turnpike Music Showcase

  September 17, 2009

• Tortoise

  September 24, 2009

• Continents

  September 24, 2009

• And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

  September 24, 2009

• Whip It

  October 1, 2009

• Transmittens

  October 1, 2009

• New releases, Tuesday, October 6

  While it's not a musical release, I'd really like to mention the fact that the long-delayed Trick 'r Treat is finally seeing DVD release this week. Currently pulling in a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it's a return to anthology horror like Twilight Zone: the Movie or Creepshow. I've seen nothing more than the trailer and a couple of clips, but I'm going to be buying this today, in hopes that the studios will stop churning out remakes and crap like the Saw series in favor of quality genre

  October 6, 2009

• The Shaky Hands

  October 8, 2009

• Everyday/Everynight launches Moon Phases

  October 8, 2009

• Concert Review: Manchester Orchestra at the Uptown

  The talented Ms. Wiebe already covered Brand New's Uptown Theater performance from last night, so I'm going to focus on the opening acts -- Manchester Orchestra and Sybris. Sybris was a four piece that sounded like Bjork fronting every mid-to-late '90s post-hardcore band ever. Lead singer and frontwoman Angela Mullenhour had a speaking voice like any regular woman from the midwest, only to sing in a croon that also at times brought to mind Regina Spektor. The band itself took a lot of musical c

  October 8, 2009

• Concert Review: Karl Blau, Lake, BBDDM at the Jackpot

  REVIEW BY IAN HRABE I turn around to find Karl Blau sitting at the bar folding oragami. He looks absolutely insane. His hair is teased up into some kind of mullet mohawk with two pigtails coming out of the back. He's also extremely tall and wearing a Marty McFly vest, which makes the effect extra weird. Ian Hrabe​ He also seems like the nicest guy ever, and though there was hardly anyone at the Jackpot, that didn't stop him from putting on anything less than an excellent performance. Ba

  October 20, 2009

• Dinosaur Jr.

  October 22, 2009

• Family man Chris Crisci finds time to carve out Old Canes’ second album

  October 22, 2009

• KEXP's List of the Best Cover Songs Ever

  Earlier this month, Seattle independent radio station KEXP presented their list of the best cover songs ever. ​The top ten were, as follows: 10. Nirvana, "The Man Who Sold the World" (David Bowie) 9. Gary Jules, "Mad World" (Tears for Fears) 8. Cowboy Junkies, "Sweet Jane" (Lou Reed) 7. Devo, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (Rolling Stones) 6. Iron & Wine, "Such Great Heights" (Postal Service) 5. Dinosaur Jr, "Just Like Heaven" (The Cure) 4. Cloud Cult, "Mr. Tambourine Man" (Bob Dylan) 3.

  October 21, 2009

• White Denim

  October 29, 2009

• Concert Review: David Bazan's Beard Rock

  REVIEW BY IAN HRABE I distinctly remember seeing Pedro the Lion CDs at the Christian bookstore in Olathe when I was a kid. My grandma used to take us there. I thought it was a cool band name, though I had no interest in music at the time. illustration by Ian Hrabe​Ten or so years later, finding David Bazan's latest release, Curse Your Branches, at a Christian bookstore might constitute blasphemy. Though his music and style have remained quite similar, lyrically Bazan has gone from foldi

  November 2, 2009

• Har Mar Superstar

  November 5, 2009

• Dirty Projectors

  November 5, 2009

• Download the Twin Tigers Automatic EP

  Since Athens-based psych rockers Twin Tigers started their tour with Minus the Bear and the Antlers this week, they've decided to give away some music to entice you to show up early and catch their set. ​It stands to reason that if you get to hear some music, you're more apt to see a band live. I'm certainly more likely to listen to music that I can throw on my iPod than something I'm required to hear via MySpace, as well, so the idea of something that resides on my hard drive is a nice i

  November 4, 2009

• Concert Review: Dirty Projectors at the Granada (video-enhanced)

  BY IAN HRABE Right before Dirty Projectors went on, I overheard someone on the balcony talking about the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense. Talking Heads come up a lot when people talk about Dirty Projectors, enough that now they are being heralded as the heir apparent to art pop. And with good reason, too. Ian Hrabe​ Like Heads frontman David Byrne, Dave Longstreth works with complex song structures and experimental-leaning arrangements to craft what are essentially artsy po

  November 10, 2009

• Incoming: Yo La Tengo, minus the surcharges

  How would you say this in Spanish? Tenemos Yo La Tengo? Which would then translate to "we got I got it?" Que pasa? Anyway, Yo La Tengo is launching a tour behind it's latest, the actually rather poppin' Popular Songs, and the Hoboken indie amigos y amiga are running a pretty cool deal. Via Matador Records:​ Though Yo La Tengo have hit many of the world's most cosmopolitan cities while touring in support of the monumentally great 'Popular Songs', there are a number of Mid-American locales

  November 16, 2009

• Capybara

  November 19, 2009

• Tonight: Lions, Tigers and Bear (oh my!) at the Granada

  This is pretty much the perfect animal-named band lineup - for Kansas, at least. While Seattle's Minus the Bear works within a more structured rock format, the Georgia-based Twin Tigers are a much trippier bunch. Relying on looping guitars, distorted vocals and electronic sounds, the Tigers scratch up long jams inspired by the acid-fueled sounds of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd and other late '60s psychedelic groups. Ryan RussellMinus the Bear​ Minus the Bear, meanwhile, has more experienc

  November 23, 2009