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.

Streaming Live Video of Bonnaroo 2007

Click HERE to see a live video stream of a ton of the acts going on down in Tennessee for this year's Bonnaroo. Maybe you'll even catch a cameo by Naked Guy. Here's the schedule of which bands AT&T will be streaming:

June 15th Lineup
12:30 PM Uncle Earl
01:15 PM Cold War Kids
02:15 PM Brazilian Girls
03:45 PM Kings of Leon
05:00 PM Paolo Nutini
06:15 PM Gillian Welch
07:45 PM The Nightwatchman
09:00 PM Lilly Allen
10:00 PM The Roots

June 16th Lineup
12:45 PM Old Crow Medicine Show
01:45 PM Spearhead
02:15 PM Regina Spektor
03:30 PM The Black Keys
04:15 PM Damien Rice
05:45 PM Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
07:45 PM The Hold Steady
08:15 PM Mago: Billy Martin & John Medeski
09:45 PM TBA
10:15 PM String Cheese Incident

June 17th Lineup
12:30 PM Robert Glasper Trio
01:00 PM John Butler Trio
02:00 PM The Flaming Lips
03:00 PM Bob Weir & Ratdog
04:30 PM Wolfmother
05:30 PM Wilco
07:15 PM The White Stripes
08:45 PM Widespread Panic

Dan Deacon - Best Show of the Summer?

I hope that I'm not building this show up to something that it can't possibly live up to, but I haven't been this excited to see someone perform in years. Dan Deacon is coming through L.A. this weekend at the pinnacle of his hype machine (I've read countless arguments of genius vs. retard) - and videos like this one back up the claim of genius. Known more for his live performances and crowd participation than his actual recordings, the Deacon live show has been built up as one of those, "yeah I was there" type moments. I've seen all the pictures, all the videos, and read all the reviews, and tomorrow it's finally time to get drunk and dance with this guy. This video is crappy quality but it's the most recent one I could find that showcases not only how fun this is going to be, but also how incredibly bad some people are at dancing. And the best part about it- no one seems to care.

Weekend Concert Roundup: Los Angeles

Friday, June 15th
Noisettes @ Amoeba
Sage Francis, Buck 65, Alias, Buddy Wakefield @ Henry Fonda
Mere Mortals, Kind Hearts and Coronets, Karabal Nightlife, Rocking Horse People @ Spaceland
The Long Blondes, Nicole Atkins & The Sea, The Boggs @ The Echo
Noisettes, The Maccabees, The Pity Party @ Troubadour

Saturday, June 16th
The Fratellis, Division Day @ Avalon
Dan Deacon, The Juan Maclean (DJ Set), Juiceboxxx, Video Hippos, DJ Franki Chan, DJ Paparazzi @ Echplx
Vomit Bomb, Abe Vigoda, Flexions, Teenage Talking Cars, Fifty on Their Heels @ The Smell
Lavender Diamond, Winter Flowers, Anders & Woods @ Troubadour

Thursday Rock City

Tonight marks a big night for live music-goers in the Los Angeles area. There are three TapeRock favorites scattered across town: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone is playing The Echo with Ladybug Transistor, Castledoor is headlining The Silverlake Lounge as part of their June residency, and No Age is playing their final L.A. date at Pehrspace before heading to Europe in support of their new release. All of this with K Records founder and DIY legend, Calvin Johnson playing at the Smell. AND tonight is Lebron's last stand in the NBA Finals and us Cleveland natives' last hopes at keeping alive in the playoffs. So here are the details if you go:

Castledoor, The Monolators, Amy Cooper, Ema and the Ghosts
Silverlake Lounge @ 9:00

The Ladybug Transistor, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, The Donkeys, Papercuts
The Echo @ 8:30

Calvin Johnson, Julie Doiron (ex-Eric's Trip), Jeremy Jay
The Smell @ 9:00

No Age, Jessica Rylan, Naomi, Haircut Mountain Transit
Pehrspace @ 9:00

White Stripes Icky Thump Their Way to Los Angeles

On June 20th, the White Stripes will bring their hoopla whirlwind to Los Angeles for a special, West Hollywood show. An 'Icky Thump Records' store will be constructed for the show in the spot where old Tower Records used to exist on the Sunset Strip. Tickets are only going out to the first 200 fans that purchase the new record at this store, which opens at midnight this coming Monday night. KROQ is also giving out a handful of tickets through the weekend. Better get in line now. You can stream the entire album legally here at MTV. You wouldn't want Jack to call you up and make you cry. Here's a live vid of the title track:

June Mix - 7. Ween - Bananas and Blow

This song comes from Ween's seventh full length album, White Pepper. Bananas and Blow will always have a place in my heart - maybe because it was a staple at our college parties, or maybe it was because I saw it live under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs and thought I was transported to a Caribbean paradise where all Ween fans apparently moved their arms wildly, yet expertly, in the air at the EXACT same time and tempo. This happened during the "Whoaaaa-ohhh" part - obviously. Either way, this song is a great vacation tune. Even with its tongue-in-cheek genre parody(?), the pair pull it off masterfully - and besides the inane lyrics - this song is really skilled and spot on. But from what I've gathered from this duo, that goes for pretty much everything they do. Thanks Colin for suggesting this one - this should wrap up Side A quite nicely. Check out this live vid of it. This was the best one I could find - the audio doesn't match up with the video in true YouTube form, but it sounds okay. I did find a lot of banana blowjob clips as well if you're into that.