Allow me to subtract 1/2 of my age for a moment and let me get all excited over Mixtapes.
I freaking love that band. So funny. I feel better now.
They are playing Cleveland in a couple weeks, so round up the troops and be there. It’s going to be a good time fo sho.
May 8 – Cleveland, OH @ Now that’s Class- Mixtapes w/ Dear Landlord
If you liked Mixtapes (how could you not), head over to Death By False Hope Records and download their album Maps for FREE!!!
So did you happen to miss SXSW and can’t make it to Bonnaroo this year?
Are you looking for a festival to hit up this year like none other? Would you prefer not to melt at said festival? Well check out the line-up for North By Northeast (NXNE) coming up in June. It is one hell of a offering of bands of multiple genres in good ol’ Toronto, Canada and I am highly considering jumping the border to check it out.
This bill is IMPRESSIVE!!! Descendants, The Pharcyde, Digable Planets, Hot Water Music, Bouncing Souls, OFF!, Joey Cape and Kevin Seconds alone make it amazing. (DEVO too – Kent/Akron love y’all)
There are a ton of other sweet acts joining them making for one of the better festivals I have heard about this year.
If you are looking for a summer festival you should consider this one, not because I say so… Well maybe you should if you know what is good for you.
Here is a press release in regards to NXNE:
NORTH BY NORTHEAST (NXNE) announces the second wave of bands for the 17th edition of the festival, taking over Toronto June 13-19, 2011. Tickets are now available online at www.nxne.com.
NXNE has just confirmed that Devo, Descendents, Stars, The Pharcyde, Men Without Hats, Digable Planets, Twin Shadow, OFF!, Art Brut, Shad, Land of Talk, Chad VanGaalen, and Cults will join a festival line-up that also includes performances by The Dodos, Deerhoof, Hot Water Music, The Bouncing Souls, and Anti-Flag (previously announced), plus Dum Dum Girls, Evan Dando & Juliana Hatfield, Braids, Ty Segall, Suuns, PS I Love You, Crocodiles, Wild Nothing, The Pack A.D., Metz, Dirty Beaches, Forest City Lovers, The Luyas, Lower Dens, Gentlemen Husbands, Rusty, Royal Bangs, Julianna Barwick, No Joy, Prince Rama, Doldrums, Secret Cities, Evening Hymns, Snowblink, Parlovr, Talk Normal, PUJOL, Woodsman, Gauntlet Hair, Joey Cape, Tape Deck Mountain, AIDS Wolf, Houses, CJ Ramone, and Kevin Seconds.
Presented by AOL, New Wave legends Devo headline the summer’s biggest day-and-night party on Saturday, June 18 at Yonge-Dundas Square. Toronto’s Yonge Street will close to traffic and open to a massive crowd of NXNE fans as Devo – complete with signature uniforms and flower pot hats – whip into the downtown core with classics from cult fave albums Freedom of Choice and Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Also rocking the Square will be Canada’s Men Without Hats, fresh off a sold-out return to the stage at SXSW 2011.
“We’re excited to have such legendary artists play the busiest hub in Toronto for the largest music festival in Canada,” says Joshua Ostroff, music editor, AOL Canada. “It will be a great time, with amazing music and we’re looking forward to being right in the centre of the party”
SoCal pop-punk hits NXNE on Thursday, June 16, with Descendents. It’s a rare chance to see one of the genre’s most influential bands, touring with their classic late-80s lineup for the first time in a decade. They’ll share the Yonge-Dundas Square stage with Vice Records’ L.A. hardcore supergroup OFF! featuring Keith Morris (Circle Jerks & Black Flag), Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), Steven Shane McDonald (Redd Kross) and Mario Rubacaba (Hot Snakes & Rocket From The Crypt).
Sirius Satellite Radio touches down at Yonge-Dundas Square on Friday, June 17, for a live-to-air North American broadcast featuring Juno-nominated Stars. The band recently sold out consecutive nights at Massey Hall and opened for Coldplay in Ottawa, and their NXNE set will be a highlight of the festival. Also on the bill is Montreal trio Land of Talk, generating great reviews in Pitchfork and Stereogum.
“A live show and broadcast from Toronto’s Yonge-Dundas Square is a great way to share the excitement with our listeners across Canada and the U.S. while marking SIRIUS’ 6th year of support for NXNE,” said Andreanne Sasseville, Director, Canadian Content Development and Industry Relations, SIRIUS Canada Inc.
NXNE ’s final festival night rolls out Sunday, June 19, as a second colossal evening party takes hold of Yonge-Dundas Square and Yonge Street, fuelled by performances by alternative hip-hop legends The Pharcyde, whose 90s release Bizarre Ride II was named by Kanye West as his favourite album ever. The night also features Grammy Award winners Digable Planets, tagged in Rolling Stone as “everything hip-hop should be: artistically sound, unabashedly conscious and downright cool.”
Funding supporting all NXNE’s free public concerts at Yonge-Dundas Square is provided by the Government of Ontario.
There’s even more for fans at NXNE this June: California’s Dum Dum Girls, coming off a 2010 tour with MGMT and Vampire Weekend; Chad van Gaalen, playing new songs from his upcoming release, Diaper Island; and Twin Shadow, hitting the festival on the heels of shows at SXSW, Coachella, and Bonnaroo.
All NXNE Festival passes and wristbands are now on sale, available at www.nxne.com. Early-bird pricing for NXNE Priority Passes is available through April 25.
The complete NXNE Music line-up and schedule, NXNE Film schedule and additional NXNE Interactive programming will be announced over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!
17 Years, 650 Bands, 50 Stages, 40 Films, 75 Interactive Conference Sessions, 7 Days.
The Beastie Boys still have it. Have what you ask?
Talent.
“Make Some Noise” stars a whole slew of Hollywood making for a entertaining as hell video. I am sure you have already seen it, but it is too hilarious not to share.
Wondering what is going to happen next? Me too. There is a 30-minute full version of this video that is probably going to be released right around the time that Hot Sauce Committee Part II drops on May 3rd.
I can’t wait.
Just caught this amazing video for “Wrong Way Kids” that dropped a couple days ago by one of my all-time favorite punk rock bands. Bad Religion never ceases to amaze me…
A little bit about the video from Epitaph:
Influential punk rockers Bad Religion have released a moving video for the new single, “Wrong Way Kids” from the group’s critically heralded album, The Dissent of Man. The song is an up-tempo, powerfully melodic tribute to the band and their fan’s shared histories as rebellious yet durable outsiders.
The footage begins in present day with lead singer Greg Graffin offering a knowing message of hope for Bad Religion’s many fans: “Even though they’re misfits,” he states, “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.” A subsequent shot reveals a defiantly unconventional Graffin on stage with the band back in 1984 counting down the song intro. From there it’s a surging beat, powerful guitars and signature sing-along chorus set against a stirring non stop montage of found footage showing the band’s remarkable rise from teen rebels to international punk luminaries.
Seriously, how cool is that video? Young and old Bad Religion footage really shows how far 30-years can go.
The grandfathers of punk will actually be playing a show in Cleveland on May 7th. Sadly they are opening for Rise Against. If you ask me, Rise Against should be opening for them.
Sadly I will not be attending the show. I want to, I really want to. This will be the first Bad Religion show I have missed since they played the Rock Hall a couple years ago as a suprise guest. This is one of those bands I make sure I am present at every show, but sometimes I can’t make them all.
Ignore the title of this post, I just thought it sounded cool. I am going to ramble here – just a heads up…
Honestly , this year’s Record Store Day (RSD) did not exactly go to plan but it worked out entirely in my favor by the end of the day yesterday.
Record Poachers
A term my pal Eugene texted me when neither of us could find any of the wax we were looking for in retail stores on Saturday.
A record poacher is one of those folk out there who fancy a profit of mass proportions. They snag up all the good RSD vinyl and throw it on eBay where people like me will pay outrageous amounts of money for items that normally cost $10-$20. Some of these record poachers are actually shady store owners too who know damn well that they are cheating the purpose of RSD.
Knowing this, I still refuse to be defeated and try my luck on eBay. I am not the only one either.
Why do we do it? Because we are the reason RSD exists, we are the the vinyl collectors and sometimes we need to bite the bullet and pay a little more to get something we really want.
Example. I really wanted the Deftones Covers LP. It was sold out almost instantly across America. Coincidentally it was also all over eBay going for $40 to $70. Mind you there were only 3000 made.
I bid on it and was outbid immediately. I knew that I should just forget about it. I was bummed, but honestly, it is a record, I will live…
Right?
Lucky for me I have some amazing ass friends out there across the states and once they heard I was looking for that, as well as a couple other LPs, they made every effort they could to search for them.
There is a Deftones LP waiting for me now. I did not spend $452.87 on it either. There are also a couple other RSD releases I had my eye on that will be accompanying that LP too.
I have some damn good friends out there. I feel the need to emphasize that.
I am done rambling now.
Beyond my battle to get some of the RSD releases I wanted, I have to say that RSD 2011 was enjoyable.
How about a recap of RSD? Ok…
There were about 100 people lined up in the rain outside of Music Saves waiting to get first dibs on the goods when I arrived around 11:30am. That is dedication right there.
I sat in my car and chose to wait for my friends – and stay dry.
Come noon, my friends and I all perused Blue Arrow Records for a while, snagged up a couple things here and there, and just enjoyed the excitement that surrounded us. I picked up the Rome 7″ I was looking for as well as some used records that caught my eye.
Once the line at Music Saves calmed down, we all took a peek in there to see if any scraps were left over. I knew in advance of the Music Saves offerings and this year around there was not anything that got me too excited so I was ok with just grabbing a couple little things and saying hi to the owners and their special in-house phone answerer guy.
The Beachland opened their hallway to a couple of vendors who had some good finds. I walked out with a Pagans cover 7″ as well as a Germs cover 7″ both totaling a whopping $4. Not too shabby.
After kicking it on Waterloo we did the next best thing – went to Chili Peppers on 185th to feast. Best burritos ever.
It’s actually become a tradition for me to do RSD and then pound a burrito at Chili Peppers with friends. I did it last year, and I am pretty sure I will do it again next year.
I love me some RSD. It’s the one day a year where I can just geek out on vinyl with friends and complete strangers. Blue Arrow and Music Saves always do an amazing job with setting up for the big day and evening.
I skipped out on the free shows again this year in favor of hangouts with good peoples.
Good music was being spun and played at all the shops and everyone was in a good mood. If only every holiday were like this.