RAD + VEGA = Totally Awesome

Midwest Dilemma | Langdon Street Cafe | Oct 29

Some shots from tonight's Midwest Dilemma show.

Halloween in Vermont

Midwest Dilemma | Coming to Montpelier | Oct 29

Sometimes idiocy works.

Everyday I get 10 to 20 emails from bands/promoters/publicists/labels asking jds and I to write about their band/album/show. 99% of them immediately go into the cyber dustbin. However, one caught my eye due to the silliness of it. A publicist from NYC was offering us a spot on the guest list for a show at Langdon Street Cafe. Obviously, the publicist doesn't know that LSC is a "pass-the-hat" gig. So, it's like being offered free tickets to my son's soccer match. It's a kind offer but not one that has any value.

Having said that, it got me to take a second and listen to the band's music. And I have to say, I'm glad that I did.

Midwest Dilemma is a 23-piece band out of Omaha that plays...well...let's call it orchestral folk. I can't imagine that they'll bring all 23 members on the road with them. It's got to be some pared down version of themselves to make any sense financially. However, the number of folks on the stage may still equal the number of people at LSC on any given night. Either way, I like them and am going to check it out. It's local and they sound good.

The other bonus is that Kris Gruen will be opening the show for them. Kris is working on his next album and the new tunes he played at Higher Ground last summer sounded sweet. It should be a good show.

Midwest Dilemma | Chicago and North Western | Buy

Debris Slide

Now The Vermont Teddy Bear Company Has Been Dragged Into This Mess

The New Year | Club Metronome | Oct 13

It's always nice to have a quality hometown show. It's doubly nice when the band ranks fourth on my "most listened to" list on Last.FM. That's where The New Year stand for me and why I was excited to see them make a VT stop for their first time.

In a rare move, my wife came to the show also. Prior to having kids, my wife and I would regularly hit shows together. However, due to the cost of babysitters and general exhaustion of parenthood, she's left the concert-going to me. So, it was fun to have her company for the night.

We got to Burlington early so we could grab a pre-show dinner. Here's the thing, it was a Monday night in Burlington and the economy is tanking. However, you would never know it from the restaurants. We had to go to four different places before we could find one with less than a half-hour wait. And we were only able to eat at Sweetwaters because we were willing to sit at the bar. I guess the financial downturn hasn't impacted the Queen City yet.

Lendway opened the show. I've known Michael Clifford, guitarist and vocalist, for Lendway for a few years. he used to work at Buch Spieler in Montpelier and would offer great tips on albums to check out. However, he would also share some of the tunes he had written and recorded by himself. Now, 99 out of 100 times someone you know casually gives you a copy of their music, it stinks. However, Michael's stuff was fantastic. Gorgeous pop songs that I'd play over and over on my iPod. The problem was that whenever I'd ask Michael about putting together a band, he'd talk about problems playing with this guy or that guy. It never worked out.

Well, Lendway has worked out for him.

My wife pegged their sound as being similar to Luna which is a good comparison. There's a bit of a Dead and Beatles feeling in there too though. Regardless, it's infectious stuff and they played it well. Their debut album is coming out next month and they're having a CD release party on Nov 14. However, I'll post more about those things later.

The New Year hit the stage around 10pm and immediately started ticking off songs from their new album. "Folios", "The Company I Can Get", "X Off Days" all fell towards the start of the set. In fact, I think we heard the majority of the songs off the self-titled release. Braving my permently foggy memory, I believe we also got "Gasoline", "End's Not Near" and "Chinese Handcuffs" off their prior albums.

Despite a slight rattle off the drum kit, the band sounded good. What sucked was all of the talkers in the back of the room. I could live to be 104 and I'll never understand why people pay to go to a concert and talk the whole time. It's arrogance. Why else would the talkers think what they have to say is more important than what is going on the stage? I'm not expecting people to be mutes (God knows I comment on the show to my friends mid-song; but with a brief interjection) but do they really need to carry on constantly?

it's just a shame because The New Year have some beautifully delicate songs that are quiet. When folks are chatting, it stomps all over the beauty.

Don't take that mini-rant as a sign that I didn't enjoy the show. The louder songs weren't impacted at all and I still thoroughly enjoyed the entire evening.

By the way, the photo below explains how they get the drumming piece done on "The Door Opens". Matt Kadane plays the cymbal while Chris Brokaw does the main drumming.

Lastly, Bradley's Almanac has posted the mp3 files from The Kadanes Brothers set at The Middle East from this past July. I'd also keep watching the 'Nac for the mp3 files from the Boston show of this tour with the full band.

Hard Rock Hotel

While I was in Chicago for work recently, I stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. While it's a nice hotel and well located with beautiful views, I find all the memorabilia to be silly.

I was located on the Kiss floor which meant that whenever I passed through the elevator waiting area on my floor, I was met by a smiling Gene Simmons and the bands' guitars.

The silliest though and ultimate disrespectful move was in the bathroom of my room. Come on! Doesn't Roger Daltry deserve a more dignified location than right above my toilet?

However, like I said, the views from my room were sweet; right down to the river.

Team Band | The Abbey | Oct 6

The headliner was indie starlets The Black Kids but the beast of the show was Team Band. The Chicago foursome was simultaneously a complete mockery of the entire indie scene bullshit and a ferociously rocking half-hour of music. They're excessively self-aware in a "Hey! This is all ridiculous but no less ridiculous than The Black Kids" way. However, while you chuckle at their antics, you find your head grooving, your heel slamming the floor in rhythm with the drummer and your brain thinking "Fuck Yeah!"

The Virgins and The Black Kids played next but Team Band had ruined any attempt on their part of having a good show. The brains of anyone paying attention had been become a toxic setting for the meager stirrings of the "hot band du jour".

The show poster from their myspace page may be the finest poster of the season.




Team Band | Team Band Fight Song | Buy

Team Band | If Rain (Sambassadeur cover) | Buy

No Age | Coming to Montreal | Nov 22

No Age, purveyors of one of the best albums of the year are hitting Montreal for the second time this year. The show will be at Theatre Plaza on Nov 22 (yes, it's a Saturday night show; no exuses). I'll be missing the show because we have ten friends visiting that weekend but I was lucky to catch their show at La Sala Rossa back in July.

Here are some shots from that show.

No Age didn't hit the stage until after 12:30 because they had gotten stopped at the border. Throughout the show, they kept repeating sarcastically that everyone should feel very safe with the way that the border agents are scrutinizing indie rock bands.

Prior to the show I wonder if they'd be able to reproduce their studio sound live. I didn't know how much of it was post-production magic. However, when I saw this board of pedals at the guitarist Randy Randall's feet, I knew we'd be in for a whirlwind of fuzz.

Good show. At one point, in the middle of a song, Randall threw his guitar guitar across Dean Spunt's drum kit as Spunt kept drumming; just slamming his right-hand stick into the guitar. Make the trip for the show. It's worth it.



No Age | Sleeper Hold | Buy

The New Year | Club Metronome | Oct 13

Reasons to go see The New Year at Club Metronome on Monday night (9pm):

☺ Quality...Their excellent self-titled album is getting rave reviews here, here, here, here and here.

☻ More quality...Their previous two albums are even better.

♥ Local connection..bassist Mike Donofrio grew up in and lives in Vermont.

♦ Exclusive...This is the band's first ever show in Vermont.

♣ Economic bailout...tickets are just $8 which is about $4 less than in other cities.

♠ Bonus...Lendway is opening the show.

The New Year | X-Off Days | Buy

Lendway | Yard Sale


photo courtesy of jinners

Stuck In Vermont | Langdon's Army of Fun

"You can wander in town [Montpelier] any day of the week and not know what you are going to find, such as a bunch of kids throwing stuff at cardboard"

The Smittens | The Coolest Thing About Love

Reason #487 Why I'm a Sucky Blogger: The Smittens' The Coolest Thing About Love came out a month ago and I've yet to post about it. I even got a copy of it a few weeks prior to its release which gave me plenty of time to fall in love with it and I still failed to sing its praises.

Here's why this is such a mistake...this is a blog about VT music and it's one of the best releases by a VT band this year. In fact, I should have ignored the VT qualifier. It's just a good album and a must for any lover of twee and pop.

The blogosphere went gaga earlier this year for fellow popsters Magnetic Fields' Distortion. However, I'd contend that if you loved Magnetic Fields' earlier work, you'd prefer The Coolest Thing About Love to Distortion. It's truer to the genre of fun bubbly pop melodies with an undercurrent of meloncholy lyrics. Distortion is an interesting diversion to MF's sound. However, The Smittens' new LP will keep your head bopping and heels swinging a lot longer.

The Smittens | The Interstate | Buy

The Smittens | One Hundred Roses | Buy


By the way, here is a live performance of "One Hundred Roses" from a show last year at The Firehouse Gallery.

Yearbook Yourself

If you haven't played around with Yearbook Yourself, give it a whirl. Stupid silly fun.

Basically, you upload a picture of yourself, or in this case Bonnie Prince Billy, and then the software shows you what you might have looked like in a yearbook book photo from various years going back to the early 50's.

Bonnie Prince Billy almost resembles Richard Branson in his 1956 yearbook photo. And the "butt cut" from '88 makes his cheeks look even more "squirrel-like" than usual.

Speaking of the Prince, if you haven't picked up his latest studio album Lie Down in the Light, stop reading this stupid blog and go get it. So beautiful.

Bonnie Prince Billy | Easy Does It | Buy

Apples to iPods Contest

Same contest as last year. Go apple picking in one of VT's 24 orchards, find a wooden apple and you win an iPod Nano, Shuffle or Touch from Small Dog Electronics. It's that easy. And in a worst case scenario, you go home with a bunch of fresh apples.

We gave it a try this weekend at Liberty Orchard in Brookfield. You can find a list of all the participating orchards here.

The lady at the gate said that the wooden apples are not painted and are brown. I looked while picking but all I saw was real apples.

No luck. However, as I said above, we still took home a bushel of sweet crisp apples. Now we just have to find a bunch of recipes for apple dishes. How does apple jelly sound?

Oh, and the other upside is getting to spend an hour wandering around a picturesque landscape on a sunny fall afternoon. The iPod is completely unnecessary for it to be a good day.

One last note about apples. The honeycrisp apples are now at the farmer's market. Just a freakishly good apple. The best.

Ruben's Tube

I know this would seem to be crazy dangerous following the disaster at The Station in RI five years ago. However, I would love to see a band bring this out on tour in some sort of safe controlled manner. It would be cool to watch throughout a show.

The Dodos | Coming to Dartmouth | Oct 3

Existing in the gap between Americana and freak folk, The Dodos are palatable for people who are bored with the graybeards in the coffee shop and befuddled by Animal Collective. Or in other words, me.

jds introduced me to their album Visiter [sic] earlier this year and I've enjoyed it each time I've played it. It doesn't blow me away but whenever I hit play, it makes me wonder why I don't listen to it more often.

Next month, the San Francisco duo will be playing at the Fuel Rocket Club at Dartmouth College. The show is on Fri Oct 3. In the past, we've been told that shows at Dartmouth are not open to non-students. However, I went to see Parts & Labor there last spring and nobody said boo to me. The only thing I'd caution about is the start times. Things are relaxed at the club so while they say things get going around 10pm, expect to hear music closer to 11pm. Once again, the upside is that the shows there are free. Zero bucks to hear a band like The Dodos is always a good deal.

The Dodos | Joe's Waltz | Buy

The Dodos | Jodi | Buy


photo courtesy of Leia Jospe

Anarchist Candy

As if the world needs further proof that VT is a bit different, Saturday saw the grand opening of a new pair of stores in downtown Montpelier. The old location of Paseo Shoes is now occupied by the unique combination of Black Sheep Books and Delish. That's right...you now have one stop shopping for your anarchist books and gummy bears.

All oddities aside, we stopped by Delish this weekend and enjoyed it. There's a nice selection of candy (including the VT requisite organic candies) and it seemed fairly priced. In fact, I was expecting to pay more than what our final bill came to. They still have some space to fill in with more bulk candy and they need a counter; the scale was balanced unstably upon the curved top of the glass case which may be why our cost came in lower than expected. However, it's nice to have a place in town to grab some treats. We've been missing that ever since the Country Store closed four years ago.

Speaking of candy stores, we were recently in NYC and got to check out Economy Candy down on Rivington St. Extrawack! had tipped me off to the place and it was the perfect antidote to the upscale uptown Dylan's Candy Bar. For all the fanciness of Dylan's, Economy Candy comes hard with it's no-frills approach. Just a huge selection of candy piled up everywhere; warehouse style. It feels downtown. Plus, it's cheaper. The kids say they still prefer Dylan's but kids are always drawn to flash.

The Kadane Bros + Bottomless Pit | Le Divan Orange | Jul 13

I've been a crappy blogger this summer. Pretty much checked out all summer. I'm going to try to get back into it but I'm not making any promises that it'll take.

One of the posts that I started two months ago but never finished was this one about The Kadane Brothers and Bottomless Pit at Le Divan Orange in Montreal on Jul 13.

Here's the skinny...good music...crappy club.

Heavy rain for most of the drive which stinks when you're flying solo.

At least the rain yielded to a cool sky as I was approaching Montreal.

I had some time to kill before the show. So, I wandered around the neighborhood and snapped this cool picture of the post-storm vapors rising against the hillside.

The reason I had time to kill was that Le Divan Orange listed the starting time for the show as 9:30 with no opening band. However, when I arrived at the empty club around 9pm, I was told by the bartender that shows at Le Divan Orange generally don't start until 11pm and that there would be an opening band. Shit. Why the hell do they post completely wrong info on their site? Are they too cool to post accurate info? Do they think that we all live such carefree lives that the showtime on a Sunday night doesn't matter?

Whatever, I had a bunch of time to kill. So, I drank a few beers, read the paper, talked to some folks and listened to the soundchecks.

The opening band was some completely forgettable band. I don't mean that I've forgotten who they were to months after the show. I mean that I had forgotten their name before I had reach the US border.

One thing that popped in my head was the band's use of cello and a violin. I guess if you're a band from Montreal these days, you think you're going to get noticed by replicating Arcade Fire. Not even close.

Matt and Bubba Kadane came out and played a bunch of songs off their new self-titled album (I'll try to post a review of it later this week...in short, it's a goody) and some earlier gems such as "Gasoline" and "End's Not Near".

I'm always impressed when a song can be stripped down to a minimum of instruments (in this case, just two guitars) and the songs are still enjoyable. Well built tunes.

The transition from the Kadanes to Bottomless Pit was one of the slickest I've ever seen. The Kadanes finished their song with a long tune which was slowly filled out by members of Bottomless Pit as the band members slowly came on stage to join the song. The song then transitioned into a Bottomless Pit song as Matt and Bubba unplugged and left the stage. Bottomless Pit then just went right along with their set. More bands should find ways to do this. It keeps the show going and is interesting to watch...much more interesting than watching roadies change the stage over.

Bottomless Pit sounded good. The bonus of hearing their soundcheck was that I got to hear "Dogtags" twice in one night. However, I think the highlight of the set for me was "Reposession" which is good on the album but fantastic live.

The big problem of the night was Le Divan Orange. In addition to the mistake on their website, it's a miserable place to watch a show. They have an oven behind the bar (not a toaster oven but a full kitchen oven) which they use to cook and reheat food. So, that thing is cranking out heat all night and there isn't any air conditioning. Well, as the sweat began to build, the employees of the club hung big industrial fans on the wall. However, unless you were standing right in front of them, they didn't cut your sweat runs. Plus, they made a loud humming sound which drowned out the quieter, more subtle moment of the Kadane Brothers set. Such a disappointment of a club. They seem to be making an effort to bring in lots of good acts but unless they get their website and climate straightened out, it's all a waste of effort on their part.

The New Year (Kadane brothers band) start touring later this week. Here are their dates:

9/18 - Granada Theatre - Dallas, TX
9/19 - Rudyards - Houston, TX
9/20 - Emo's Alternative Lounge - Austin, TX
9/22 - Launchpad - Albuquerque, NM
9/23 - Modified - Phoenix, AZ
9/24 - The Echo - Los Angeles, CA
9/25 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, CA
9/26 - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR
9/27 - Sunset Tavern - Seattle, WA
9/29 - Larimer Lounge - Denver, CO

10/9 - Johnny Brenda's - Philadelphia, PA
10/10 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY
10/11 - The Middle East - Boston, MA
10/12 - The Livingroom - Providence, RI
10/13 - Club Metronome - Burlington, VT <--- Can't miss show (with Capstan Shafts)
10/14 - Le Divan Orange - Montreal, QC
10/15 - Lee's Palace - Toronto, ON
10/16 - The Pike Room - Pontiac, MI
10/17 - Empty Bottle - Chicago, IL
10/18 - Maintenance Shop - Ames, IA
10/19 - High Dive - Champaign, IL
10/20 - Grog Shop - Cleveland, OH
10/21 - DC9 - Washington, DC