Hurricane Katrina

That's the Superdome up there. Man, New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast got hit hard and I really do feel sorry for everyone. The people I do feel the worst for are some of the idiots and the asinine comparisons that they've made. Here are some that particularly irk me:

"It's downtown Baghdad," said tourist Denise Bollinger, who snapped pictures of looting in the French Quarter. "It's insane."
[Baghdad is well known for its hurricanes]

From the Boston edition of the Metro: "After touring the destruction by air, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said it looked like Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped." [He was in Japan, I presume]

"This is our tsunami," Biloxi Mayor AJ Holloway told the Biloxi Sun Herald. [Hey dude, 250,000 people died in the tsunami]

"It's like being in a Third World country. We're trying to work without power. Everyone knows we're all in this together. We're just trying to stay alive," Mitch Handrich, a registered nurse manager at Louisiana's biggest public hospital, told the AP. [From my co-worker: "I thought Louisiana was already a third world country."]

Hearts of Oak

Shit!! Check out You Ain't No Picasso for a new Ted Leo song recorded live at South Street Seaport on Friday!!

So so pumped!!!!

Kanye West "The Late Registration"

So Kanye's second album "The Late Registration" drops tomorrow and the press has been heated. Rolling Stone has given it 5 stars and there are two very different opinions on it today, courtesy of the web's two biggest indie rock webzines: Pitchfork and Prefix. Read them here:

"The Late Registration" on Pitchfork.

"The Late Registration" on Prefix.

Let the games begin.

spirit in the night

This weekend was a weekend, ya know. Prepared to move across town and went to a wedding out in Lowell at the Whistler House Museum. Besides the vegan food, the wedding was awesome. Ok, whatever, I loved the food, too.



Bloc Party has a remix album coming out on September 13th through Vice Records. Check out two tracks here:

"Plans [Replanned by Mogwai]"
"This Modern Love [Dave Piankas Making Time Remix]"



Lady Sov is really fucking blowing up lately. You can check her out in the new issue of The Fader, she's been in every fucking Brit mag that is sort of involved with music and her new 9 to 5 single is bananas! Check this girl out because out of all of the MCs coming out of the UK right now, she has the best chance of blowing up stateside.

Lady Sovereign "A Little Bit of Shh"

More later...

stop snitchin

Via Bostonist, these shirts have been making the rounds around the city lately, and they originated in Baltimore. Even worse, these shirts were worn to a highly-publicized murder trial in New Bedford recently.

This is kinda fucked up.

tonight may have to last me

Last night the Schoolyard Heroes and Nightmare of You rocked out at The Middle East and despite going to this on a Monday night, it was worth it. Both bands were good [and uumm hehe opening for Bayside and Vendetta Red], although I didn't like Nightmare of You as much live. I was expecting a Killers vibe, but they came off as an almost tepid Bravery. Yeah, I went there....

Check out Nightmare of You's "My Name is Trouble"

I need coffee and breakfast!

hahaha

"I just can't look, it's killing me"

TGIF!!

It's a sunny, breezy Friday morning, you know, the ones that are more often written and talked about rather than EXPERIENCED and there is more awesome show action tonight. First off, a big high five to Travis over at Big Stereo for sending me some more Pajama Party jams. The two he posted last week have been burning up my iTunes, and since their albums are out of print, I had to grovel for a few more tracks.



Tonight at the The Paradise, Gogol Bordello is going to be doing nothing short of owning that room. They are an off the chain mix of punk and traditional Ukranian music. Their new album is called "Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike" and it's out now on Side One Dummy. Check out "Troubled Friends", live at the Casbah in San Diego, CA on May 18th, 2004 [oddly enough, that was my 25th birthday].

So last night, I punked out on some of the show action. I did catch Longwave, who were surprisingly good in the outdoor setting and then Spoon at the free show sponsered by WFNX. I still think Spoon is one of the most overrated bands of the past ten years, but they did play that "How We Get By" jam or whatever that I like. You may remember it from an episode of The O.C.. I skipped out on Simian because well, it seemed kind of silly, and then the last show at the Middle East, Tim and I left after Boom Bap Project because Hieroglyphics were not going to go on until well after midnight, and well, that's really fucking late and I didn't wanna drop $20 on a cab.

new links!

Check out the new links on the sidebar: Lemon Red, Undomondo, MisSHAPES and Prancehall!

today is a day of shows

So I have been rather lazy with updates this week. Sorry about that, but today is pretty damn good day to back into the swing of things. There are three shows that I am hitting up today and barring festivals, this is something I haven't done in six or seven years.

Show #1: at the DCR Memorial Hatch Shell, it's Spoon & Longwave.


Spoon


Longwave

Show #2: Simian at the Enormous Room in Cambridge.


This is another one of those Smirnoff-sponsered jawns, should be good for some free booze and awkward single sightings. Oh yeah, I have a plus one....

Show #3: Hieroglyphics & Boom Bap Project at The Middle East.


Hieroglyphics


Boom Bap Project

Airborn Audio review

So I never ended up seeing Airborn Audio perform the other night. I saw the dudes walking around and I did see Certified Bananas drop some awesome shit for awhile, but the event was a total Smirnoffdrinking event/singles mixer. I don't think anyone was there to see CB or AA and I looked like a fucking dork drinking Bud and standing in the corner alone [Boston be my friend] and on top of that, it was at the Redline, which is rather yuppie. Ok, it's really fucking yuppie. It was hilarious watching everyone awkwardly talk to each other, especially this probably just divorced 40-something dude with a martini that held the most hollow conversation with these two attractive college-aged girls. Good times. Hey, maybe next time Airborn.

it's a good day for iced coffee

So in some Exitfare news, I've added some new links off to the side as of late. Check them out off to the side: Headphones Sex has links to great dance music and football, Big Stereo has hooked me up with a great Lady Sovereign track and two out-of-print Pajama Party jams and then there's the Superficial, which is more celebrity gossip. And I love celebrity gossip.



Other stuff. So after Chris over at Gorilla vs. Bear posted some tracks from Avenue D, I checked them out and fell in love (in more ways than one!). Since then, I've been bouncing e-mails back and forth with Daphne from the duo with hopes of doing something for them at work. She even sent me the EP! Hell, maybe since they're in Brooklyn they'll come to the Planetary party at CMJ?

coming to Boston: 08/10/05

Ok, this shit is going down at the Redline in Cambridge tomorrow [Wednesday] night. Certified Bananas is going to be dropping it before and after sets, and Airborn Audio is going to be holding it down all night. If you haven't checked out their album Good Fortune yet, do yourself a favor and get it. If you miss Antipop Consortium or are into good, futuristic, mind-bending hip hop, it will definitely be your thing.

new Lady Sovereign jam

Download Lady Sov's new single "Hoodie" on Big Stereo. This song is ridiculous, I listened to it like 12 times last night. It should be out by November.

central park quiet down i need to make a sound

[pictures via Death of a Party]

Holy fuck, out of all the fun I had this weekend, M.I.A. ruled the shit on Sunday! So good, and she played all of the hits. Because she has all hits. My friends and I were rocking out in the back for most of the show and then we elbowed our way to the front [sorry] to rock out. We danced so hard, the highlight was probably "Bucky Done Gun," but like I said, all she has are hits. Mr. Vegas was top notch, but there was some confusion as to whether had flown in the day of the show or the night before. Diplo's set was good, but not great but I guess the man can't be on his game all of the time. He dropped too many hits and not enough of the baile funk.

Perhaps I'll have more later.

territorial awesomeness

So the weekend is almost here. Today is basically my Friday as tomorrow is me going to NY for a bunch of label meetings and then spending the rest of the weekend drinking Sparks and rocking out to M.I.A. .



The Mae Shi are from LA [blech] and their new album "Heartbeeps" has been owning iTunes this week. They are one of the more accesible 5RC bands, having that herky-jerky thing down pat. Think of early Dismemberment Plan with less tongue-in-cheek bullshit.

Check out "Born for a Short Time".

I've also been listening to a lot of Nirvana



On the show front, Greg and I are going to be hitting up Great Scott tonight for the Elkland and Nightmare of You show. I'll have a review and hopefully pictures sometime this weekend.