Artist: The Whigs
Album: In The Dark
Recommended if you like: college rock a la the Replacements
From the press kit:
“artfully combining the disenchanted swagger of ‘70s punk with the infectious, catchy bounce of ‘60s pop” - Filter
Standout tracks: “Kill Me Carolyne","So Lonely”
Why you should listen:
P-fork gave this album a horrible review, but I usually take that to mean that an album is more accessible to a larger group of listeners (remember their review of Airborne Toxic - say what you want but a #1 on alt rock radio is nothing to sneeze at). I’m not saying that this album is amazing, because it’s not, but it’s not a stinker either.
More info/listen: official/twitter

I am totally obsessed with two bands right now.....Codeine Velvet Club and The Bird and the Bee. I’m sure some of you are already hip to The Bird and the Bee - maybe you saw them open for Rilo Kiley a few years ago? I’ve been anxiously awaiting the official release of their new album which is a cover album of Hall and Oates classics. Now, I do not get the Journey revival, but H & O? Hell yeah, give me some blue eyed soul/rock any day. Last week they played a show at the El Rey and previewed all the tracks. This week, you can hear the entire album on various places on the interwebs. Kinda like a virtual scavenger hunt. So, here is a track listing with where you can find the tunes:

1. Heard It On The Radio – MySpace
2. I Can’t Go For That – Brooklyn Vegan
3. Rich Girl – SPIN
4. Sara Smile – Entertainment Weekly
5. Kiss On My List - Idolator
6. Maneater – PerezHilton
7. She’s Gone – AOL Spinner
8. Private Eyes – USA Today
9. One on One – Prefix

You love it right? The album Interpreting The Masters Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall And John Oates is out in stores on 3/23.
More info:official/myspace

Now onto Codeine Velvet Club. This is Jon Lawler from The Fratelli’s side project which might seem a bit strange as I didn’t associate him with retro pop. I’ve been watching their video for “Hollywood” on repeat.

If you are at SXSW next week, you need to make sure you catch these guys. Their debut album will be out in April 6th on Dangerbird.
More info: article from Filter/official/twitter

Manchester Orchestra
HOB San Diego
3/7/10

Encore:
50 Cent
I’ve Got Friends
Where Have You Been?
I Can Feel A Hot One

Yes, yes, that is quite a set list. I was happy to get a full set where I got songs from their debut instead of just songs from their current album. And I was stoked to get a new song after “Shake It Out”, which I felt was a bit along the same vein, so definitely a good transition. It had been quite a while since I heard “Wolves at Night” and “Colly Strings” live and those really got me into their set. I also love the back to back of “Everything to Nothing” and “The River”, which I think has some of my favorite lyrics: I think I talk to you best when I sing / I sing about almost everything . Andy gets a little crazy at the end of “The River” and even though he broke two guitar strings, he kept at it. Another highlight was the set ending “The Only One” when most of the band left Andy out there to sing the first couple of verses solo before coming back to rawk the bridge out. The encore was way cool - they started with a new song about 50 cent (no seriously - check out video from 2009 SXSW here. ) And of course, they played their hit “I’ve Got Friends”. But I thought they ended the show perfectly with “Where Have You Been” and one of my faves from their current album “I Can Feel A Hot One”. WHYB is always a favorite of mine live and I had never seen ICFAHO so I felt very fulfilled after the show. Nice way to end my almost two week stint at home.

Tegan and Sara
Copley Symphony Hall
San Diego
3/3/10

Encore:
Back In Your Head
Feel It In My Bones
Call It Off
Living Room

Yes, yes, a super long set list. Lots of new stuff, the best of the old stuff and the fun banter you expect at a Tegan and Sara show. For some odd reason, Tegan did most of the talking tonight - seems a bit out of character for her from the last times I’ve seen them. We had some rowdy people in the front row who started throwing bras on stage which made Tegan launch into a whole diatribe about bra shopping and the quilt they are making from all the bras that get thrown on stage for this tour. But yeah, the music was great - the material from Sainthood is awesome live, especially “Northshore” and the lyrics something’s so sick about this, my misery is so addictive... From the older material, I was especially happy to hear “Speak Slow” and “Nineteen”. The encore was especially good tonight with just Tegan and Sara coming out for the first two songs and Tegan playing the xylophone for “Back in Your Head”. Definitely a show to remember....

1. Cage the Elephant - Back Against the Wall
2. Muse - Uprising
3. Phoenix - 1901
4. Flyleaf - Again
5. Muse - Resistance
6. Rise Against - Savior
7. 30 Seconds to Mars - Kings & Queens
8. Alice in Chains - Your Decision
9. Crash Kings - Mountain Man
10. Pearl Jam - Just Breathe

Best of the rest:

12. Paramore - Brick by Boring Brick
20. Vampire Weekend - Cousins
23. Metric - Gold Guns Girls
24. Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition
30. Silversun Pickups - The Royal We
32. Gorillaz - Stylo
35. Phoenix - Lisztomania
38. Broken Bells - High Road

Are you kidding me? Cage the Elephant with a #1? That’s pretty awesome for them. Also refreshing to see in the mix are two Phoenix songs - it only took a Cadillac commercial for the rest of the country to be entranced with this great band that some of us have loved for years. And nice to see Crash Kings in the top 10 as well - once I heard Mountain Man on XM/Sirius I figured it would get some traction on terrestrial radio and so it did. It took a little longer for the Paramore single to break than I had guessed previously, but it should not surprise you faithful readers as you know I have been singing their (especially Hayley’s) praises for a loooong time.

Ratings update:
So did KBZT’s move to bring Mikey over from KIOZ result in a ratings coup? Even though the numbers from January only include a week of the show, the answer is a resounding yes. Can these numbers continue? Of course. Sorry, guys, the move did exactly what it was supposed to do. No turning back now. 

Dashboard Confessional
HOB San Diego
2/25/10

Encore:
The Best Deceptions
Hands Down

So anyways....typical Dashboard show. Everyone sings, girls cry, guys tell Chris they love him. All in a days work.

I had to be in Biloxi, MS for a conference last week and it was easy enough to fly through MSY and just drive to Biloxi. So on the way back to NOLA, we stopped in Abita Springs. Yes, that Abita. Home of Abita beer. First we went to the Brew Pub, which was the original Abita brewery which they have since outgrown. Had my first muffaletta of the trip and then we headed to the Brewery which is a much larger facility a mile or so down the road. We didn’t have time to hang out but I bought a lot of cool schwag and then we were on our way to drive over the lake.

I have wanted to drive over the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway for a long time. It was the longest bridge in the world until recently. At 24 miles, it is quite a wonder. About halfway on the bridge you can start to see NOLA to the east...it’s like this magical city rising up from the water. Quite an experience.

After driving over the bridge, we headed to the airport where I dropped off my friend who was at the conference with me and waited for my friend arriving from San Diego. Once she arrived, we were off to NOLA proper and the newly renovated Roosevelt Hotel. It wasn’t open the last time I was in NOLA - apparently it had been purchased by the Hilton Hotel chain and restored to be placed under their Waldorf-Astoria brand. This grand old hotel certainly lives up to her sister hotel in NY. I appreciated its Old World charm and impeccable service throughout our stay.

(Roosevelt Lobby)

(I’m going to skip around chronologically in my narrative, just for the purpose of easily grouping what I did while in NOLA.)

My friend was a first timer so I did book some touristy activities - things I had always wanted to do while in NOLA but had never gotten around to them. The first thing was a Plantation Tour. We used a smaller company which I was glad about because getting in a van with 10 other people is a whole different experience then getting on a Hotard with 100 other people. We visited Oak Alley and the Laura plantations. The beauty of Oak Alley is stunning - you are not quite prepared for it no matter how many photos you’ve seen. I was a little disappointed at the house itself - it’s not as luxurious as you would think. Also, the tour of the house was a bit short. The other plantation tour at Laura was a totally different experience. The house wasn’t grand but the tour was a lot better and more detailed, which really gave you the sense of how it was to live on a plantation. Also, the tour went beyond the main house (which was a bit small) and took you out on the grounds where you saw the remaining structures such as the kitchen, slave quarters and another house. We both really enjoyed the tour and I would highly recommend taking the time out of your day (6 hours total) to spend some time at the plantations.

(Oak Alley from the house)

(The house from the Oak Alley)

(Laura Plantation)

We also went on a walking tour of the Garden District. I’ve spent some time there just walking around randomly (mostly during my first visit in 1997 when I was on the quest to find Trent Reznor’s house) but have never taken a formal tour. Again, I chose to use a smaller company - it is known for a more historical bent (as it is run by a retired LSU professor). We hit all of the typical spots in the tour, but I was pretty happy with the architectural details and little bits of local history that our guide gave us.

(Ironwork detail from Colonel Short’s house)

(Gothic Revival)

(Greek Revival - formerly owned by Trent Reznor, now owned by John Goodman)

And of course, we ate. Again, since I had a first timer, I did want to go to one of Emeril’s restaurants and one of John Besh’s restaurants. Also, I figured we would go to brunch at Commander’s Palace. My friend told me that it had been featured in Top Chef - I had always known it as the restaurant Emeril got his start at back in the day. I won’t go into the details here, you can read my Yelp reviews if you want the food pron, but each meal was amazing in its own right and I would definitely recommend any of these restaurants to someone visiting NOLA.

(Commander’s Palace)
Unfortunately there were things we didn’t get to and some things are best left in NOLA so I think that will be the end of this essay. If you want more details, you can read the Yelp reviews here. The rest of the photos are here.

Further reading:
Lake Ponchartrain Causeway (wiki)/official site
Oak Alley Plantation
Laura Plantation
Roosevelt Hotel

The things I do out of curiosity....I signed up for the mailing list for KCSF (better known to most as Sophie 103.7) and one of the things they send is a music listener survey. They play a song snippet and you rate each one with what you think about the song and if you are tired of hearing it. I mostly take the survey (even though it is torturous at times) to see what crossover from alt rock happens and to have a vague idea of some of the popular music that people are talking about. So I thought it would be interesting for you to see what songs I rated this time around:

1 Just Breathe - PEARL JAM
2 Hey Soul Sister - TRAIN
3 Never Gonna Be Alone - NICKELBACK
4 Fifteen - TAYLOR SWIFT
5 Uprising - MUSE
6 Human - KILLERS
7 Fireflies - OWL CITY
8 Haven’t Met You Yet - MICHAEL BUBLE
9 Tik Tok - KE$HA
10 I’ve Got A Feeling - THE BLACK EYED PEAS
11 Closer - NINE INCH NAILS
12 Say Hey - MICHAEL FRANTI
13 You Belong With Me - TAYLOR SWIFT
14 All The Right Moves - ONEREPUBLIC
15 Breakeven - THE SCRIPT
16 paparazzi - LADY GAGA
17 Big Girls Don’t Cry - FERGIE
18 Sex On Fire - KINGS OF LEON
19 Live Like You’re Dying - KRIS ALLEN
20 Better In Time - LEONA LEWIS

So as you can see, there is definitely an alt rock crossover - Pearl Jam, Muse and of course, the biggest crossover of last year, Kings of Leon. The song that really surprised me when it came up was the NIN song. Seriously? I love that song but am so tired of it as being the song that most people hear/know about when they think of NIN. It just seems wrong to hear it within seconds of KE$HA and Taylor Swift. The other thing I want to mention is that “Closer” is 16 years old - do you really see anything else on that list being able to withstand the test of time and actually still be played on the radio in 16 years? (Well, besides “Sex on Fire” because that is also going to be one of those songs in 15 years....)

I guess the purpose of this post is two-fold - to drive home the point that alt rock crossovers do happen and will continue to happen and that when you write a great song, shitty pop stations will try to co-opt them, even if it is 15 years after the fact. Sigh.

Artist: Hockey
Album: Mind Chaos
Recommended if you like: early Rapture (the single really reminds me of “House of Jealous Lovers")
From the press kit:
“Like MGMT? How about CSS or the Klaxons? Well meet your new favorite band...they’ll be around for a while"---Spin.com
Standout Tracks: “Song Away","Wanna Be Black”
Worth a second listen?:
The band comparisons from the Spin quote give you a starting point for their sound, though they are definitely not as trippy dippy as MGMT. If you’re inclined to like the dancy side of alt rock, then, yes, you will like this. The album does not deviate too far from the formula of “Too Fake”. BTW, the single has been hanging on the alt rock charts since October (first mentioned here in my weekly radio chart post on 10/7), but it’s never broken the top 20. The new single “Song Away” impacts radio on 2/9, so I’ll be keeping an eye on the charts for it.
More info: myspace/official
Listen: “Too Fake” on Jimmy Fallon (wvx file - windows media)

Sirius/XM
Pros:
- A gazillion choices by genre and decently programmed
- You can listen in your car, online or via iphone and Blackberry apps
Cons:
- lack of on air personalities for music stations
- not free (obviously)

Slacker Radio
Pros:
- Best programmed stations online - the stations are programmed by radio professionals who know the genre and have excellent taste (I’m talking to you Scott Riggs, Mat Diablo, Marco Collins and Kallao - you guys pretty much rule.)
- You can ban songs/artists - never listen to Sublime, Incubus or RHCP again!!!
- You can favorite songs/artists - hear more of what you like
- You can skip songs
- iphone and Blackberry apps for portable listening
Cons:
- Because your experience is customized, you won’t hear the same music as anyone else listening to the same station.
- the actual player you can purchase is just okay - it won’t replace your mp3 listening device.

Legitradio
Pros:
- A relative newcomer on the scene but started by radio industry vet, Chris Cantore
- Decent playlist and users can vote songs up or down
- Interactive experience with other listeners through live video, chatroom and twitter
- Specialty programming hosted by radio vets and social media saavy people
Cons:
- No apps to listen via iphone or BB
- Other listener’s bad taste in music (example: someone gave Cat Power a thumbs down? WTF?)

I guess I’m not really endorsing one choice over another since I do listen to all three of these alternatives to terrestrial radio; what I listen to depends on what I feel like listening to at the time. Also, there are some terrestrial stations that you can listen to online that aren’t horrible - KCRW and KEXP if you weren’t already hip to them, you should check them out. If you know of any other sites I should check out, let me know and I will take a listen and do a similar rundown.