New Bright Eyes Video: Hot Knives

Bright Eyes has released a new video today for the song "Hot Knives." To be honest, I'm rather surprised at this choice for the second single off Cassadaga. This is one of the weaker songs off the album, and I'm even more surprised to read that Stereogum is calling it a "standout." I guess then it's fitting that the video is kind of lame as well. I'm never a big fan of videos that only feature live footage of the band playing the song - the format seems to allow for so much more creativity (see my post below about the Bats For Lashes video if you want to see a visual concept.) I've really been trying hard to like this new album - and there are definitely some great tracks on it - but I don't think this is one of them. I'm still really pumped for the Hollywood Bowl show and I hope to god he pulls out some back catalog with that symphony. Oh well, you can check out the video for yourself:

Weekend Concert Roundup: Los Angeles

Friday, June 22nd
Skinny Puppy, The Silver Daggers @ Henry Fonda Theater
Divisadero, The Louvre, The Solvents, 1985 @ Pehrspace
Division Day, The Switch @ Safari Sam's
Rob Crow, Johnny and the Moon (Dante Decaro of Wolf Parade), Manic @ Spaceland

Saturday, June 23rd
The Police @ Dodger Stadium
Skinny Puppy, The Silver Daggers @ Henry Fonda Theater
White Mice, Chuck Dukowski Sextet, Finally Punk @ The Smell

Sunday, June 24th
DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist, Carlinhos Brown, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars @ Hollywood Bowl

The Cure Announces North American Tour

The Cure have added the North American jaunt to this year's summer/fall world tour - and it includes a stop to the Hollywood Bowl in mid-October. The dates were just announced this morning and the news also included word about a follow-up to 2004's S/T record. The new studio release will be released on Suretone/Geffen Records and should be expected around the same time as their L.A. stop. 65 Days of Static will be the opener for all of the North American dates. Click here to check out all the tour dates.

June Mix - 10. The Barracudas - Summer Fun

The next song on the mix comes by way of the 1980 classic "Summer Fun" by UK band The Barracudas. This song is about as cliche as a "summer song" can get, but this is where the song draws its charm from. The Barracudas were a throwback band - playing upbeat 60s revival with their jangly sound - and this was their breakthrough hit. I like this song in our mix because it brings some needed overt summerness - and it's a ton of fun to rock out to. Thanks go to Johnbeck for this one. Here's the "music video" for the song from Top of the Pops shot in 1981. Check out those dance moves!

Spoon Announce Two L.A. Dates

Spoon will be bringing their new tunes into town toward the end of this summer. The two dates are September 10th and 11th at the Henry Fonda Theater. They haven't really committed to a full out U.S. tour, so it's nice to see that they are giving L.A. some love with a two night stint. Tickets go on sale this Saturday and cost 20 bucks. Click here to buy. There is no info yet on who is opening. The Austin band will then head home for the Austin City Limits festival playing September 14th. Stay tuned for more info. For now, check out their new single, "The Underdog" off Merge Records' Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - out July 10th.

New Bat For Lashes Video - What's A Girl To Do

The concept behind this video is the reason why music videos are still worth doing. It's a simple idea, and it's pulled off extraordinarily. I might also be impartial to the Donnie Darko influences as well as the "all-in-one-shot" concept. It keeps the viewer (i.e. me) captivated, instead of breaking the moment with an edit. I don't really know a lot about British songwriter Natasha Khan AKA Bat For Lashes, but from what I've read she's praised by the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Devendra Banhart and Thom Yorke. Everything I've heard from her is kind of a mishmash of retro style and feeling with modern instrumentation. The video is directed by Dougal Wilson and it's for the upcoming single called "What's a Girl to Do."

Dan Deacon/Girl Talk Rumors Confirmed

After seeing a suspicious L.A. date pitting the two electronic artists at the same place and the same time over a month ago, I had a feeling that we'd be hearing more about it soon. Today Pitchfork broke the news of a (semi) full out tour. It seems like the dates are spread out enough that there will be more shows announced to fill in the gaps. Where do I sign up? Here's what's been announced so far:

08-04 Baltimore, MD - Pimlico Race Course (Virgin Festival)
09-12 Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix
09-15 New York, NY Webster Hall
09-17 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
09-20 Charlottesville, VA - Satellite Ballroom
09-21 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
09-22 Atlanta, GA - MJQ Concourse
09-27 San Diego, CA - Epicentre
09-28 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
09-29 San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore Auditorium

On Repeat: Best Fwends

I stumbled upon Austin Duo Best Fwends through some MySpace Top 8 band surfing and couldn't stop listening to them. I'm not sure if it's the quick, catchy synth leads, or the half-retarded lyrical content - but it's probably someplace where the two meet that make this band so irresistible. Their latest release, Alphabetically Arranged runs 29 tracks long with the longest track under three minutes. They bring to mind an even more lo-fi sound than Gil Mantera with even tighter wound hooks. Check out this song called "Skate or Live":

Also, check out this Bacardi ad you may have already seen and heard that features Best Fwends:

June Mix - 9. Blink 182 - Rock Show

If I believed in guilty pleasures, I would say Blink 182 might go down as my all-time top guilty pleasure. But I won't apologize for being in love with their brand of smart pop and their lack of pretense. Their entire catalog reminds me of the summertime, from early Warped Tours, to Blossom Music Center concerts. This song especially reminds me of summers past- for the obvious lyrical nod and the overall theme of being young and stupid and going to shows. It was the first single off of Take Off Your Pants, which was probably my least favorite of all their releases, but I think it's the song that best represents this band for our theme. We used to say that we had to grow up when Blink broke up, and then they did. Damn! Check out the video for it:

New Broken Social Scene Offering: Kevin Drew

Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene is joining the ranks of BSS members going solo. His full length titled Spirit If... is due out on September 18th on Arts & Crafts Records. While I wasn't extremely impressed with the Apostle of Hustle record, I have really liked the new Feist one, and Emily Haines' Knives was probably my favorite record from last year. So Kevin has sort of a tough act to follow from his BSS family. The new song that just hit this morning is called "Tbtf" and it supposedly isn't meant to be pronounced - but said as an acronym. I'm not going to spoil the lyrical content because it's funnier to just listen to it not expecting the chorus. This song sounds more like the classic Broken Social Scene sound than any of the other solo efforts and makes me that much more excited for this release. Enjoy:

New Menomena Video - Rotten Hell

The Portland trio are back in the news again with a brand new video for the song "Rotten Hell" off of the Barsuk release Friend and Foe. This is a really great video with these kids having the times of their lives. Stereogum referred to it as "'300' with kids and food instead of pecs and quads." I thought this an odd choice for a single off the new record, but every song really is a standout in its own way, so it must have been a tough decision on what to pick. It does fit the concept of the video, so that might have had more to do with it.

June Cover Art Contest

Whoever can come up with the best summer themed cassette tape artwork in the next two weeks will get their piece printed and put in every TapeRock June tape that goes out. Compact cassette tape case dimensions are 4'' x 2.5''. Email your image to james.t.cartwright@gmail.com. And if you're the only one who participates, you win by default! It only takes a couple minutes and I'll post the winner - plus any other honorable mentions. MS Paint welcome!

Artist Spotlight: Ghosthustler

Denton Texas' Ghosthustler packs a punch - literally in their new video for the song "Parking Lot Nights", with a Powerglove nonetheless. This unsigned electronic trio play danceable vocoder fueled laptop rock. They're a GvB favorite, and have a couple higher profile shows coming up with the likes of Parts and Labor and Faux Fox. They've recently been in the news for their brand new aforementioned Pete Ohs (of Ohio fame) directed video. You can check out some of their other songs at MySpace. Pretty cool:

White Stripes Take Over Tower Records

A YouTube Channel has been created by the clever White Stripes promo people capturing the happenings on Sunset Blvd. over the weekend. The garage rock duo will be playing a super special concert at the old Tower Records on Sunset in West Hollywood. The show is for the first 200 customers of the store that opens tonight at midnight. The show will happen sometime on Wednesday. The YouTube videos currently posted to the channel are of people waiting in line. I'm sure as the rest of today progresses into tonight there should be some more interesting videos to watch as the line grows and grows. Click HERE to check it out.

June Mix - 8. Presidents of the U.S.A. - Peaches

Released in the summer of 1995, Presidents of the Unites States of America's self-titled debut confused me. "Are these guys supposed to be a joke? Why are they singing about fruit?" - my 5th grade mind asked. But turned out, rock music can indeed be silly and fun, and fun these guys are. "Peaches" is clearly the standout track (at least of the three that I can remember.) The pretty opening melody line and slide guitar work their way into a flannel shirt swaying chorus and the underlying fruit theme make this song a perfect opener to Side B. I can remember humming this song to myself while riding my bike en route to a rousing game of mush ball. Thanks to Katy for the reminder. Check out the video for it complete with Kung Fu fight sequence:

Sufjan's Next State: Oregon??

Via Gorillavsbear: Sufjan Stevens may have announced his plans for the next state in his collection: Oregon. But the folk singer's purevolume page doesn't have everyone convinced that it's the truth. If you can remember back to last year, this wouldn't be the first time Sufjan has been the subject of an internet hoodwinking. Pitchfork had preemptively posted an article about Sufjan and singer/songwriter Rosie Thomas having a baby and it turned out to be a hoax. So this time around, people aren't taking this purevolume "announcement" as 100% fact; but it's still a little intriguing. I've been eagerly waiting to hear what state it's gonna be ever since I fell in love with Illinois over two summers ago. I remember Oregon has been tossed around before in this same rumor mill sometime last year. You can check the page yourself here and stream the exclusive track "Portland, or Whistling Underwater." It sounds in the same vein as the garage rock song he released to mixed reviews last month. As of right now, there is no record of this release on the Asthmatic Kitty website. UPDATE: It's a hoax. Check out the pitchfork article here.