One of my greatest joys in life is falling in love with a band I didn’t even know existed until I hear them at a live show and they hit all my buttons right off. It’s happened a time or two before, most often with local shows when I’m there to see an opener and stick around, or get to shows early and catch opening bands for the bands I’m there to see. In this case, I went spur of the moment to catch a casual friend’s band (Twilight Sleep, who are also worth hearing) and since I was already out, decided to stay for the headliner that night – a band called Seaspin doing a month-long residency at a small venue. I hadn’t listened to them before going to the show, had barely read their bio on the venue’s website. It was truly serendipitous, because I ended up falling and falling hard for Seaspin.

The band is the brainchild of Ronnie Washburn and Jennifer Goodridge, who worked together in the band Your Enemies’ Friends and shared stages with the like of Blonde Redhead, TV on the Radio, Mars Volta, and others. Together they’ve forged a potent mixture of shoegaze and dream pop, with intricate drum tracks punctuating Washburn and Goodridge’s noise riffs and Goodridge’s lush vocals overlaying everything. It took somewhere around thirty seconds for me to break out into a wide grin that didn’t leave my face all night, and I was back the next week to see them finish out their residency, this time having listened to their EP almost non-stop all week.

I almost always enjoy going out to hear local bands do their thing, but it’s not every time that one catches me as strongly as Seaspin has. They’ll definitely be a band that I seek out every time they play, probably to the extent that Jennifer and Ronnie (who are both extremely personable) will tire of me hanging around. And if you like stuff like Viva Voce, Sonic Youth, and The Raveonettes, you should definitely be keeping Seaspin on your radar. Filling out the band are Ross O’Carroll on bass, Isaac Carpenter on drums, and at least for this show, Liana Piper on keys.

Here’s an MP3 of the title track from their EP Reverser, which is available for $4.95 from both Amazon.com MP3 and iTunes. They’ve also got the entire thing streaming on their Facebook and MySpace pages. Plus, you can keep up with them on their Twitter and website.

Seaspin – Reverser

I apologize for the low quality of my photos; this is one of the darkest venues in town, and I only had my iPhone with me. There are some great shots on their Facebook, or check out these ones from Stereogum.

Please push.

Congratulations, the follow-up to MGMT’s excellent 2007 debut Oracular Spectacular, hits your local record store and (legal-type) MP3 download sites today, and here’s the video for the first single, “Flash Delirium.” Now, you don’t press play on an MGMT video without expecting some weird and potentially disturbing crap to go down (remember their video for “Kids”?), and while “Flash Delirium” seems to start off pretty staid and normal, just wait.

hat tip Stereogum

Locke.

Not all of this news is brand new, but it’s all worth knowing about. At least, if you’re me or like the same bands as I do.

• The Dead Weather Announce New Album Details – Jack White’s current project The Dead Weather is set to release their second album, following 2009′s widely-acclaimed Horehound. It will be called Sea of Cowards, and will drop May 11th in the US. Pitchfork has the cover art and track listing at the link.
• Tokyo Police Club Announce Sophomore LP – Must be the time for sophomore albums, because Toronto-based Tokyo Police Club are releasing theirs, entitled Champ, on June 8th. They’re also embarking on a pretty extensive tour, most of it with Passion Pit.
• The Libertines to Reunite for Festival Performances – The Libs were one of my favorite bands several years ago, and I always kind of hoped they’d get back together at some point following their well-publicized and not-particularly-amicable breakup in 2004. This isn’t any more than a couple of reunited festival gigs, no album or anything in the works, and I have a feeling even this has all kinds of possible badness in store for it – as much as I love Pete Doherty’s music, he’s not what you might call a stable person. Hope this comes off better than I fear.
• MGMT’s Congratulations Streaming on Their Site – MGMT’s new album comes out tomorrow, but it leaked early so they put the whole thing streaming on their home page. It seems a little more mellow than Oracular Spectacular, but I quite liked it. Not sure how long they’ll leave it up after the album’s out, so check it out while you can.
• Two More Broken Social Scene Songs from New Record – Two more songs from Broken Social Scene’s upcoming Forgiveness Rock Record have been released, and Steregum has the Flash player to prove it. I really REALLY like “All to All,” though “Forced to Love” needs some more time to percolate around my brain, I think. Forgiveness Rock Record is out May 4th.
• Jason Boesel Talks About In-Progress Rilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis Records – Now, when I heard that coming from Rilo Kiley drummer Boesel, I got REALLY REALLY excited; Rilo Kiley is my favorite band, and their last record together was 2006, before they all sort of amicably split up to work on solo projects. I’d like nothing better than for them to get back together and work on something new. This is not quite that. The Rilo Kiley record is a rarities and B-sides compilation, which is still worth excitement, because they have a lot of B-sides and songs they’ve only done live that I’d LOVE to have in studio-produced form. Jenny is working on a new record with her boyfriend Johnathan Rice, but it’s unclear from the interview whether that means he’s working on her record, she’s working on his, or they’re doing a dual one (they’ve both worked on each other’s records before). Boesel is encouraging, though, that Rilo Kiley may reunite for a new project in the future, something I certainly hope comes true.

Plant ‘em!

I am an invisible man. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids – and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.

-from Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

I used to enjoy Mr. Bean but I never felt it really showed how smart and funny Rowan Atkinson actually is. Since it is Friday and my mind isn’t on work I present to you some Rowan Atkinson.

Read More

Vacation.

The rockin’ and rollin’ antics of women’s (and men’s) derby skating is whipping it’s way into the hearts of angsty teens, resulting in the creation of junior leagues popping up in several states. Meanwhile, the feisty 20-30 and even 40 somethings touting bruises, fishnets and funky socks adorned with cross-bones and cutlery, continue to tear up the tracks to sell-out crowds. Yes, I am a wanna-be and despite being told, “you are too little and somebody will break you” I don my gear and grease the track in preparation for try-outs this spring. In frequenting the local roller rink, I have however, been re-introduced to a world of quad skating that I thought had died in the early 80′s when I traded my Barbie skates for some “totally rad” roller-blades.

I’ve since realized that Rhythm, Jam and Artistic quad skating is alive and well across the globe. Artistic skating in particular is something akin to the ice-dancing that mesmerizes my mother during the Winter Olympics and I am finding that it is just as fast, difficult, athletic and bruise inducing as practicing for derby. With artistic skating, I seem to get my ass handed to me on a much more personal basis. I can take my angst out on myself, my skates or the rink, instead of someone who, for all I know could be the nicest person in the world and has really done nothing, other than the fact that she needs to GET OUT MY WAY! Don’t get me wrong, I’m still all for a bit of healthy tactile competition, but, I’m glad to know that there is an alternative to derby that is just as sexy, saucy and (ignoring the music choice in this video) pretty bad-ass!

Pac Man Walking.

Welcome to the second edition of “What I’ve Been Reading,” where I share with you, well, what I’ve been reading – and where you can feel comfortable sharing with the rest of the world what you’ve checked out of your local library to help you drift off into someone else’s world. Recommendations are welcome and any thoughts on the books I’ve been reading, of course, are welcome also. Maybe we can even get some discussion going.

On the Road (1957, The Original Scroll)
Author: Jack Kerouac
Synopsis: “Though Jack Kerouac began thinking about the novel that was to become On the Road as early as 1947, it was not until three weeks in April 1951, in an apartment on West Twentieth Street in Manhattan, that he wrote the first full draft that was satisfactory to him. Typed out as one long, single-spaced paragraph on eight long sheets of tracing paper that he later taped together to form a 120-foot scroll, this document is among the most significant, celebrated, and provocative artifacts in contemporary American literary history. It represents the first full expression of Kerouac’s revolutionary aesthetic, the identifiable point at which his thematic vision and narrative voice came together in a sustained burst of creative energy. It was also part of a wider vital experimentation in the American literary, musical, and visual arts in the post-World War II period.”
Star Rating: * * * *

Plainsong (1999)
Author: Kent Haruf
Synopsis: “In the same way that the plains define the American landscape, small-town life in the heartlands is a quintessentially American experience. Holt, Colo., a tiny prairie community near Denver, is both the setting for and the psychological matrix of Haruf’s beautifully executed new novel. Alternating chapters focus on eight compassionately imagined characters whose lives undergo radical change during the course of one year. … Walking a tightrope of restrained design, Haruf steers clear of sentimentality and melodrama while constructing a taut narrative in which revelations of character and rising emotional tensions are held in perfect balance. This is a compelling story of grief, bereavement, loneliness and anger, but also of kindness, benevolence, love and the making of a strange new family.”
Star Rating: * * * * 1/2

The Sportswriter (1986)
Author: Richard Ford
Synopsis: “Ralph Bascombe, the brooding antihero here, is not a Walter Matthaustyle, cigar-smoking sportswriter. Rather he resembles John Updike’s Rabbit Angstrom (sans cynicism). Bascombe has decided in his ‘mid-life crisis’ years to write heartwarming articles for a glossy sports magazine, and in the literal world of sportswriting, he has found a way to avoid life’s ‘searing regret’ without sacrificing its mysteries. In fact, Ralph is comfortable all around, living an ordinary, invisible existence in the ‘muted and adaptable’ landscape of a New Jersey suburb. He has two lovely children, buddies in the Divorced Men’s Club and occasional romps in the sack with a buxom nurse. Then comes a crisis, with a narrative that becomes an odyssey through an extraordinary Easter week of death and renewal that brutally challenges Ralph’s fragile optimism.”
Star Rating: * * * * *

A Piece of My Heart (1976)
Author: Richard Ford
Synopsis: “Ford’s mesmerizing first novel is the story of two godless pilgrims. Robard Hewes has driven across the country in the service of a destructive passion. Sam Newell is seeking the missing piece of himself. When these men converge, on an uncharted island in the Mississippi, each discovers the thing he’s looking for–amid a conflagration of violence that’s as shocking as it is inevitable.”
Star Rating: * * * *

The Ghost Writer (1979)
Author: Philip Roth
Synopsis: “A middle-aged writer recalls his younger self. At 23, Nathan Zuckerman has had four stories published and a small, flattering Saturday Review up-and-coming-author profile… As genuine and polite as he seems, Zuckerman has already hurt his family with his autobiographical art and ruined his relationship with adultery and honesty. Visiting his reclusive idol…, the writer watches himself watching himself and attempts to confront his work and life. Instead he finds himself turning reality into metafiction. … Philip Roth is the master of the uncomfortable, and his alter ego a connoisseur of self-involvement, self-loathing, and self-examination.”
Star Rating: * * *

—–
February Edition

As far as I am concerned, no one can rock quite like Dave Grohl. Whether leading the show with the Foo Fighters or passionately (and comically) destroying the drums with Them Crooked Vultures (concert review), the man is not only a musical genius, but a born entertainer. In my house, when a Foo Fighters album drops, it’s an event and as the release date approaches, anticipation grows to almost unbearable levels.

So, I’m pretty excited to hear that Dave is getting back to work with the Foo Fighters in September to work on their follow up to 2007′s Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace – and this time, they’ll be going back to their harder rock roots and bringing former Nirvana producer Butch Vig on board to help out.

“It’s the first album the two of us have made together in 20 years,” Dave told BBC. “There’s something that Butch does that helps a song become a bigger song. At this point I just want to rock. We’ve done a lot of acoustic stuff, the last couple of records have had a lot of pianos and mandolins. This one, I just want it to be on ten. We’re going to do it in my garage. It’s just a garage, it’s got junk and a refrigerator in it.”

Dave went on to say that while on tour for their last album, they wrote enough material to immediately put out another album, but they knew that meant another immediate tour and after years and years on the road (and with Dave having a recent newborn), they decided they needed a break. They are looking forward to getting back to work though and doing things the old-fashioned way.

“The way you make an album dictates the way it sounds,” Dave explained. “One of my favourite records we made was our third one which we made in my basement in Virginia. We had sleeping bags that we nailed on the wall for sound proofing. The general vibe on that record is really comfortable. I’d got upstairs and make chilli and come downstairs and do a vocal on a couch. It’s the same idea. To me it’s about switching up the process, we’ve been using pro tools and all that computer stuff the last couple of records. We’re putting that stuff in the closet and getting our old tape machines out so that we can just do it like we used to do it.”

Awesome. I can’t wait. In the meantime, I’m glad I have the recent Them Crooked Vultures album (and the memories of being front row to see them a few months ago) to hold me off.

p.s. I totally snapped that photo of Dave Grohl that you see above. He sweat on me.

Must…. get… to hooker. Need…s …. sex.

Not your mama’s walkabout.