Show review: Sunset Rubdown @ The Troubadour

On Tuesday night, Sunset Rubdown concluded their North American tour at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. 'This is the last one for a while', said front man Spencer Krug who added, 'all good things must end'.

Suffering from a cold, Krug started the set with just a guitar before being joined by the rest of his band which included the brilliant multi-instrumentalist (though the band has a few) Camilla Wynne Ingr who was just fascinating to watch perform albeit, spurned on by the intrigue of watching her play a xylophone with a vibrator.

The band's set list spanned all of their releases and even offered up a new song. Overall, their live sound was polished and top notch. And, even on songs that featured tandem drummers, nothing was over done and there was plenty of breathing room for all the brilliant fills that fans have become accustomed to while swooning with their headphones on, to ring through.

While nobody hopes that we've seen the last of Sunset Rubdown, at least we have plenty of side projects to keep us entertained :)

_Major thanks to Sean at Speed, Glue and Music for introducing me to this band a few years back. Well done sir.

VIDEO: Sunset Rubdown - Troubadour, 10.27.09

Julian Casablancas - November residency in LA

I hate posting 'news' on here but, the tidbits I do post are for the LA brethren, cool happening, cool happenings :)

That said, Julian Casablancas is doing a November residency at the Downtown Palace Theatre in LA - dates and address below.

November 6 - On Sale 10/23 @ 10am
November 13 - On Sale 10/26 @ 10am
November 20 - On Sale 10/28 @ 10am
November 27 - On Sale 10/30 @ 10am

Downtown Palace Theatre
630 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA


VIDEO: Julian Casablancas - 'Phrazes for the Young' Sampler

coming soon! NOTHING.COM

tee in pic courtesy of Threadless.com

How about a music site to satisfy the most elitist of the elite where basic e-snobbery is done with? The new 'site' can be called nothing.com. It will be no-fi, no-wave and where it's cool to listen to nothing but, even nothing is something so they'll have to be an anti-website which doesn't exist and only thought to be in existence somewhere at sometime but, if you know about it, you are already too mainstream.

Review: Spiral Stairs - 'The Real Feel'

In June, we were all pleasantly surprised by Matador's announcement (on their Matablog) of Scott 'Spiral Stairs' Kannberg's first-official solo-outing 'The Real Feel'. The news was accompanied by a memorable album cover and presumably the lead single, 'Maltese T' with it's Pavement-esque jangle-pop which instantly rooted itself in my mind and my play list with a stellar follow-up single, 'True Love' hitting the net a couple weeks ago.

Last week, I spun the full album for the first time and it is as good as the two singles would lead one to believe. Kannberg has put together a grown-up pop album with a decent amount of alt-country influence including lush slide-fills and banjo riffs too. But, undoubtedly, plenty of his sound contribution in Pavement is present in the LP as well.

On 'Call the Ceasefire', Kannberg sings 'did you realize, that was betrayal'. Perhaps the album may have been during the Pavement era but, the hiatus/break allowed him to polish up and offer a release as good as anything else that you've heard this year and comparable to most of the Pavement albums.

The album bobs and weaves through genres without losing it's focus or the listener's attention but, always comes back to that slight country twang that separates this album from the pack - it's cohesion is in it's diversity. 'Wharf Hand Blues' reminds me of an early-90's, contemporary jazz, Sade type vibe. While 'Subiaco Shuffle' is a foot-stomping, blues jam that could have easily been a Black Crowes b-side.

The album hits stores 10/20/09. If you are in LA, catch him at The Troubadour on 10/19 – he is supporting Bob Mould.

Rating: 8.5/10

Key tracks: 'Maltese T', 'True Love', 'Cold Change'

VIDEO: Pavement at Lollapalooza