OPP

Listen to the new Silver Jews song from the forthcoming Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea, "Strange Victory, Strange Defeat"

The Chicago Tribune looks at groupies through the years

R. Kelly's defense team wants Jim DeRogatis to testify

Death By Audio Records launches

The two Davids battle to become the 7th American Idol

Built to Spill plots new album, fall tour

Led Zeppelin will allegedly play four shows at the Toronto Skydome this August

NERD to make their own Hard Day's Night movie?

Witness a Kraft salad dressing commercial use a Flaming Lips song to sell their wares

Crawdaddy: Why the album isn't dead just yet

I Want My MTV - Elbo.ws top videos (White Williams, The Cure, Ladytron, and more)

Below are five of my favorites of the videos that are currently charting in the Elbo.ws top videos...


"Violator" by White Williams (above)


"The Only One" by The Cure (above)


"Ghosts" by Ladytron (above)


"Space and The Woods" by Late of The Pier (above)


"Bill O'Reilly Flips Out" (dance remix) by Lucian Piane & Torrey Meeks

Three for Free - Windsor for the Derby, French Kicks, El Madmo

EAR FARM's Three for Free: three EF approved, free and legal MP3s posted each week. This week - three songs from artists with new records out today. Click on the artist name to go to their site, click on the song name to listen to the song.

Listen:
Windsor for the Derby - "Hold On"

French Kicks - "Abandon"

El Madmo - "Vampire Guy"

Spam Filter: Ben Sollee

Arriving early for the Plants and Animals show at Mercury on a very wet Friday evening, I was fortunate to catch the majority of opener Ben Sollee's solo set. A "folk cellist" (my term, hence the quotation marks) from Louisville, KY who also performs with the Sparrow Quartet alongside Bela Fleck, Abigail Washburn and Casey Driessen, Sollee's plaintive and heartfelt performance was the perfect antidote to having just been pummeled by near-tsunami conditions. Besides, he absolutely shreds on the cello (and I'm jello baby).

Well it turns out Sollee just released a digital only EP this past week in advance of his solo full-length album Learning To Bend (out June 10th). The EP - If You're Gonna Lead My Country - premiered at #2 on eMusic behind In Rainbows and is also now available on iTunes and Amazon. As the title suggests, the subject matter is pretty much overtly political, and Sollee's caustic indictment of the Bush administration is nicely tempered by his honeyed delivery and dulcet cello work. However, listening to the recorded version I would have to say that the simple, unadorned live version I witnessed sans accompaniment (and particularly sans the sax I hear on the single which tips the scales slightly towards a Dave Matthews vibe) was far more effective and ethereal. So that being said, if you have a chance to catch Sollee and his cello live - and if you're planning on heading to Bonnaroo this applies to you - definitely do it.

Listen: "A Change Is Gonna Come"

Visit Ben Sollee on MySpace

Today's NEW Releases

One of our most anticipated albums of the year drops today, hooray for Islands:

• Blackstrap - Steal My Horses and Run
• Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Lie Down in the Light
• Donna Summer - Crayons
• The Explorers Club - Freedom Wind
• The Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop And Roll
• French Kicks - Swimming
• Indian Jewelry - Free Gold!
• Islands - Arm's Way
• Mason Jennings - In The Ever
• Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
• Mudhoney - Lucky Ones
• Scarlett Johansson - Anywhere I Lay My Head
• Sybris - Into The Trees
• The Ting Tings - We Started Nothing
• The Wedding Present - El Rey
• Windsor for the Derby - How We Lost

Some great offerings, but what have we missed?

OPP

Listen to the brand new Islands Daytrotter session, which includes a Brian Eno cover

Or, listen to Beck's latest jam "Chemtrails" from his forthcoming Modern Guilt album

Napster launches an MP3 store

Takka Takka's Migration LP due July 29th on Ernest Jennings Record Co.

Ra Ra Riot sign to Barsuk Records and also playing a free show w/RSVP on Thursday

Fuse TV will televise six hours of Bonnaroo for the first time this year

Bored? Learn how to set up a pirate radio station

Hit-or-miss: "String Bean Jean" by Belle & Sebastian

Listen:
"String Bean Jean" by Belle & Sebastian from Dog On Wheels

View:
Image search results for String Bean Jean - above image is from the first page of results (and was originally from HERE).
--
In the recent past these songs were featured in Hit-or-miss posts:
"Buzz Fledderjohn" by Tom Waits
"Pump up the Bass" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince
"Jet City Woman" by Queensrÿche
"II. In Taberna: Estuans Interius" by Carl Orff
"Dangerous" by Frente!
"Keep Their Heads Ringing" by Dr. Dre
"At It Again" by Sublime
"The Day I Tried To Live" by Soundgarden
--
EAR FARM's Hit-or-miss is a weekly feature (every Monday) wherein the EF music library is put on shuffle, the song that plays is then searched (using the song title) on Google images and a resulting photo (plus an MP3 of the song) is posted. You can see all of EAR FARM's Hit-or-miss posts thus far right HERE.

The FreeCreditReport.com Hit Songs or: How to Steal Music From MySpace, YouTube, and Everywhere Else

Sing it with me...
They say a man should always dress for the job he wants,
So why am I dressed up like a pirate in this restaurant?
It's all because some hacker stole my identity,
Now I'm in here every evening serving chowder and iced tea.
Shoulda gone to free credit report dot com,
I coulda seen this comin' at me like an atom bomb.
They monitor your credit and send you e-mail alerts,
So you don't end up selling fish to tourists in t shirts.
*offer applies with enrollment in Triple Advantage.

Over the past six months FreeCreditReport.com has slowly, deliberately, and most definitely, taken over my mind with their series of commercials featuring actor/musician Eric Violette. I'm still unclear as to who composed the three greatest jingles on TV at the moment, but whoever it was deserves a Lifetime Achievement Telly Award. The more TV I watch (it's been a lot recently), the more I see the FreeCreditReport.com commercials. The more I see the FreeCreditReport.com commercials, the more I learn to love and appreciate them; and, the more adept I become at singing along to each perfectly placed lyric. Masterstrokes these ads are, proof positive as to why you shouldn't go DVR-skipping all of the commercials out there.

Then I got to thinking... how cool would it be to have these songs as MP3s?! To be able to bust out "Dream Girl" (see below) on my iPod whenever I feel like it? Yeah! To be able to sneak "Singing Pirates" (above) into a DJ set between Madonna and Special Ed?? Genius. I fired up my copy of WireTap Studio and grabbed MP3s of the three FreeCreditReport.com commercials and I've been rocking 'em like an atom bomb ever since.

But wait! Searches referring people to EAR FARM have shown that learning how to grab streaming audio from any given site is something that's of interest to a great number of folks. Perhaps you too would like to know how to download streaming audio, yeah? Well I'm going to walk you through how to do just that - steal audio from any website (MySpace, YouTube, etc) and save it on your computer as an MP3, AIF, etc. Click on through for the FreeCreditReport.com songs, video of the other two commercials, and EAR FARM's How to Steal Music From MySpace, YouTube, and Everywhere Else tutorial...


Alright. First of all, the following How to Steal Music From MySpace, YouTube, and Everywhere Else tutorial is going to be given for Mac users. Apologies to those of you using PCs, but I haven't had one since 2002 and don't even know what they look like anymore. However, I'm not going to leave you completely hung out to dry. PC users can check out this how-to article which suggests you use Audacity. I'd also suggest checking out Freecorder and the how-to article that's posted HERE.


Now, for those of you using Macs and wondering how to capture/record and save streaming audio to your computer, you're in luck. Just follow the easy steps below and enjoy your brand new ability to save any audio on the web to your computer for listening enjoyment on your own terms.

How to create an MP3 of the above YouTube clip:
1. Download Ambrosia's ace application WireTap Studio. Using WireTap Studio you "can record the discrete audio output of any application, as well as all system audio, or record audio input from any microphone, line-in, or audio input hardware." This means you can tell it to record something that's streaming in Firefox while you listen to something else in iTunes - it rules. For starters, you can download the trial version for free for 30 days.
2. Once you've downloaded the application and installed it, just open it up, you'll notice a tiny interface box that appears... click on the piece of paper image in the bottom left of this box (preferences) and click Format once this opens. Now you can select MP3 as your desired format. I use MP3 High Quality (160kbps). Close preferences and click on the first (upper) of two drop down menu selectors within the WireTap interface. This will allow you to select your internet browser as the source of the audio you're going to record. I'm using Firefox.
3. Press play on your streaming audio source to get it started loading but then pause the streaming source and go back to the beginning of it. In this case, with the above YouTube clip, I press play and then pause immediately to get the entire clip loaded. Then I drag the YouTube cursor back to the start. You're now ready to record.
4. Hit record on WireTap (button with the large circle) and then press play on your source (the YouTube clip). When the streaming audio is complete hit stop on WireTap (square button). Your file will automatically open in a new window.
5. Next, click on Editor in the top toolbar and select Crop Leading and Trailing Silence. This will remove any extraneous silent audio at the beginning and end of your clip.
6. In the same toolbar at the top, select File and then Save. Your clip has now been saved in the WireTap Library, which you can access by clicking Window and selecting Library. Within the Library you can rename your brand new MP3 and send it to whatever other location/application you'd like (such as iTunes).

That's all there is to it. It's amazingly easy and WireTap is incredibly robust in its capabilities. If you think you're going to want to grab streaming audio from websites with any kind of regularity I'd highly recommend purchasing the full version of this software. I've used it to snag a wide variety of streaming live shows, audio from YouTube, and much more. Check out the three MP3s posted below for an example of the results.

F-r-e-e that spells free,
CreditReport.com baby.

Listen:
"Singing Pirates" (FreeCreditReport.com)
"New Car" (FreeCreditReport.com)
"Dream Girl" (FreeCreditReport.com)

Plants and Animals @ Mercury Lounge - 16 May 2008

With no room left to hide offstage Friday evening, Plants and Animals' bassist/guitarist Nicolas Basque instead huddled precariously behind a guitar cabinet as the adoring crowd cheered for an encore.

The move was purely symbolic; the crowd could easily see his Sideshow Bob mane tufting up from behind the amp, but the band still admirably improvised the whole classic disappearance/reappearance encore routine with what little material props they were given. The move was also metaphoric; the sight of Basque crouching behind an amp in lieu of retreating to a backstage oasis aptly summarized the experience of seeing Plants and Animals amidst the relative intimacy of Mercury Lounge. Which is to say this: their sound, songs, and performance could all well have obliterated a far larger venue.

From the opening strum of the epic "New Kind of Love" to rousing closer "Bye Bye Bye" - made all the MORE powerful and raw live without the layers of extra choral vocals heard on the album version - the band proved that three exceptional musicians playing three simple instruments (with an occasional touch of keys and autoharp) would have been enough to fill the cavernous space of Mercury's big brother Webster Hall down the street. It was remarkable to hear the intricately constructed anthems of Parc Avenue come to life with little more than two guitars and drums, as the bottom end of the band's sound was somehow filled and expanded for the duration of the set in which Basque didn't even play bass.

And while the set didn't progress as smoothly as singer/guitarist Warren Spicer probably would have liked (he broke strings on two different guitars on two consecutive songs), the band's infectious good cheer and enthusiasm, coupled with Matthew "The Woodman" Woodley's drum solo approximation of Bel Biv Devoe's "Poison", kept things upbeat and made for an even more memorable experience. It was a perfect end to a week of nerding out to Parc Avenue nonstop and made me instantly regret not going to see them at Union Hall on Saturday (did anyone make it out to that show?). Check out more pics of our most recent Band of the Week after the jump...











Listen: "Faerie Dance"

See also:
- Band of the Week: Plants and Animals

See Plants and Animals Live:
01 Jun - Haarlem, Netherlands @ Patronaat
02 Jun - Utrecht, Netherlands @ Ekko (with Sunset Rubdown)
03 Jun - Njmegen, Netherlands @ Dornrosje (with the Do)
04 Jun - Tilburg, Netherlands @ O13
05 Jun - Dublin, Ireland @ Crawdaddy
06 Jun - Glasgow, Scotland @ The Captain’s Rest
07 Jun - Edinburgh, Scotland @ Wee Red Bar
09 Jun - London, UK @ Big Chill House
13 Jun - Lausanne, Switzerland @ Le Romandie
14 Jun - Paris, France @ Mains D’Ouevre
23 Jun - Seattle, WA @ Nectar
24 Jun - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
25 Jun - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
27 Jun - Pomona, CA @ Glass House
28 Jun - Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland (with Panther)
10 Jul - Ottawa, Ontario @ Ottawa Blues Festival
16 Jul - Sherbrooke, Quebec @ La Telephone Rouge
18 Jul - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories @ Folk on the Rocks Festival
19 Jul - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories @ Folk on the Rocks Festival
25 Jul - Guelph, Ontario @ Hillside Music Festival
26 Jul - Guelph, Ontario @ Hillside Music Festival
03 Aug - Montreal, Quebec @ Osheaga Festival (Parc Jean Drapeau)
09 Aug - Marysville, Ontario @ Wolfe Island Musicfest
17 Aug - Salmon Arm, British Columbia @ Salmon Arm Festival

Visit Plants and Animals on MySpace.

OPP

The Guardian blog has the 10 Most Memorable Festival Performances

Watch professionally shot footage of the entire Metallica set from Saturday's KROQ Weenie Roast over at Blabbermouth

Paul McCartney, Bloc Party, Morrissey among nominees for sexiest vegetarian award

Brian Wilson's That Lucky Old Sun album due in September

Juliana Hatfield to pen autobiography

After The Jump Fest Noise Stage lineup announced

David Bowie to bring The Man Who Fell to Earth to the theater stage

Brooklyn Vegan has pics and the setlist from last night's Beirut show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg

EAR FARM's Muxtape #8: I Broke My Arm Playing Wiffle Ball

Wallowing in self-absorption this past week, focusing entirely too much on my injury, I created the following mix. The song order kind of tells the story of how I became a crippled wiffle ball legend. You can listen HERE.

EAR FARM's Muxtape #8: I Broke My Arm Playing Wiffle Ball
1. "Wiffle Ball" by Halliburton(s)
2. "Falling and Laughing" by Orange Juice
3. "The Arm" by Islands
4. "Definition of an Accident" by Mancino
5. "Emergency" by Wilderness
6. "Broken Bones" by Howling Bells
7. "Broken Man" by Corrosion of Conformity
8. "Fractured (Like Chandeliers)" by Polvo
9. "Bones" by Radiohead
10. "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister
11. "Healer" by Marnie Stern
12. "Good Arms vs. Bad Arms" by Frightened Rabbit

*above picture found HERE.

See also:
EAR FARM's Muxtape #1: 12 Songs For A Cat Named Joe
EAR FARM's Muxtape #2: April Fools Edition!
EAR FARM's Muxtape #3: Fank Fod it's Friday and Finally Fpring!
EAR FARM's Muxtape #4: Rock Band Setlist
EAR FARM's Muxtape #5: 2:42
EAR FARM's Muxtape #6: Songs that used to live in my TV set
EAR FARM's Muxtape #7: Happy Muxther's Day!
--
A Muxtape is a simple way to create and share mixtapes. That's all there is to it. Feel free to share your own mix in the comments.

Top 10 Things To Do in New York This Weekend

....musical things that is. Apart from the New Kids on the Block/Miley Cyrus/Gavin DeGraw/Jonas Brothers tweenstorm at the Izod Center tomorrow night, here are ten things worth checking out during this (rainy?) weekend. In semi-particular order....

10. See The Midgetmen, The Bosch, and Red Beard @ Fontana's TONIGHT
9. Go to Bowery Ballroom SUNDAY and see if Black Kids have gotten any better
8. Pick up a limited-edition copy of Seven Summits while watching The Secret Life of Sofia (and others) @ Rehab TONIGHT
7. See Beirut @ Music Hall of Williamsburg SUNDAY before Zach Condon disappears again
6. Watch The Virgin Suicides SUNDAY at BAM and surrender to Air's mesmerizing soundtrack
5. If you have young'uns (actually a prerequisite for attending), head to the Living Room SUNDAY for a special kids performance by Los Campesinos! and Pela
4. Witness Local H bring down Union Pool SUNDAY
3. Catch EF Band of the Week Plants and Animals TONIGHT @ Mercury Lounge and SATURDAY @ Union Hall (w/Rock Plaza Central)
2. Get your METAL on with The Sword, Torche and Stinking Lizaveta @ Music Hall of Williamsburg SATURDAY
1. Spend your entire weekend at the Knitting Factory as the No Fun Fest takes it over TONIGHT, SATURDAY and SUNDAY

Of course, there are tons more options out there, these are just the ones that have most caught our eyes/ears/broken bones. Let us know what else is going on?

David Byrne's Carpet of 100 Guitar Pedals

Look at all those pedals. No, it's not the bedroom of a Guitar Center sales rep, it's David Byrne's latest work in progress. As if turning the Battery Maritime Building into a massive sound sculpture wasn't enough, Byrne is now readying a "guitar pedal carpet" installation for an event honoring Christian Marclay next Wednesday at the Puck Building.

Recently on his blog (a regular source of info here at EF), Byrne briefly described the project, which will essentially take the space separating the entrance to the Puck Building and the reception area - meaning that everyone will have to pass through - and transform it into a giant walkway of 100 guitar pedals all linked together and then run through an amplifier and guitar. Byrne stated:

We’ve tested a portion of it to see if there are any unexpected problems and I was surprised to discover how well it works. Of course, the sounds are fairly random, and stepping on one or two of the distortion or fuzz pedals raises the screaming noise level pretty high, but that will be adjusted. Happily, some pedals will loop whatever is going on at the time of their activation, and so there will be constant sound changing all the time.

This seems like a punk rock version of the "Soundstairs" that Christopher Janney built for the Boston Museum of Science back when I was a kid. I used to spend entire afternoons running up and down those piano-like steps and triggering all the cool sounds; hopefully, the folks at Wednesday's benefit will have as much fun, though Byrne has expressed reservations about women showing up in heels and having to traverse the pedal minefield. But fear not stilettoed masses, he's busy planning an alternate passageway for you as well.

Listen: "Road To Nowhere"

Visit David Byrne on MySpace

OPP

The Guardian blog talks about the subtle art of selecting supporting bands

New hope for accused file-sharer in RIAA suit

Konami introduces Rock Revolution video game to compete with Guitar Hero and Rock Band

The Seattle Times profiles Reggie Watts

Wedding Present re-team with Steve Albini on new album - El Rey - coming out this Tuesday

Shania Twain and super-producer Mutt Lange to split

Guitar tutorials are blazing up iTunes podcast charts

8+

"Backyards" by Broken Social Scene which clocks in at 8:14

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but wiffle ball will never hurt me."

Right? No. Actually, it's words. "Words will never hurt me" is the correct second half of the battle cry of the undersized that's heard in backyards across the US every summer. It means: "Yell at me all you want, you big bully, but your words won't be breaking these bones, no sir." It's a passive resistance meant to reassure those who can't yet defend themselves. In truth, I always paid the phrase little to no mind. But it rang in my head like a TV jingle because I had a strange fascination with the breaking of bones as a child. I'd say it over and over in my mind ("sticks and stones, break my bones...") and imagine the sticks and the stones and the breaking of bones and what that must feel and sound like. I didn't think it "fun" but definitely found the whole idea of fractures "neat." Which could be a result of me always wanting what I couldn't have (my friends were all breaking bones and getting casts -cool!- but not me); or, probably was just standard macabre little boyishness. Regardless, given the collective reaction to the story I'm about to tell you, you might think the axiom was meant to be about the impotency of wiffle ball rather than inability of language to crush anything other than one's spirit.

Here's what I've been telling people this past week that's had them all equally perplexed: "I broke my arm in two places playing f'ing wiffle ball."

And the standard response: "You broke your arm playing wiffle ball?! How the....???"

That's right, I did. I broke my arm playing wiffle ball. And this is how it happened...

I was in North Carolina last week, playing wiffle ball with my nephew. He's 10 years old and plays too much soccer for his own good. Which means he's quick and competitive (nice). But he needs some baseball influence in his life, especially growing up in the South. I know it. So I figured why not start with wiffle ball, right? A harmless introduction to America's pastime. Good, clean, backyard fun!

So there we were, two dudes playin' ball. It's important that you realize it was just the two of us because you can't really play any kind of baseball with just two people. But that didn't stop him from sprinting around the bases each time he hit one of my strike-every-time batting practice pitches. I'd toss it right in there and he'd smash it over my head and cruise around the bases before I could even retrieve the ball, let alone catch up to him and tag him. "Ohh, I scored again! Home run! Woo!! You can't get me out old man! 18 runs, no outs!!"

Once I considered winging the ball at him - hitting him with it to get him out, like in kickball - I knew it was time to step up my game. Hey, when I played wiffle ball as a kid with only two people pegging the other kid was fair game. Shoot, it used to be a legal way to get a runner out in pre-baseball baseball. And believe me, I could've hit him with that wiffle ball with ease. But it probably would've hurt, and -you know- I'm an adult and all. So instead I opted to go for the tag.

I threw a big fat pitch and he belted the ball up over my head. It bounced off the roof of the garage, a rightful homer if such boundaries had been set up. But they weren't. As he trotted around the bases, secure that I'd lazily retrieve the ball and make no attempt to tag him out, something within me snapped. Not my arm bone -not yet- but something else entirely. My 'playing wiffle ball with a 10 year old' competitive pride. I grabbed the ball and sprinted towards the kid full speed. Even though I was wearing jeans and big clunky leather boots, there was no way I wasn't going to tag him out. A silent lesson for him: "if I wanted to, you'd be out every time little one." So I ran. And right before he touched home plate I got him. OUT. Proof that I can still move it if I want to. And right after that I "tripped over my own speed" (his phrasing, not mine) and fell with my arms outstretched, full-force on my left shoulder. OUCH. Proof that I can't still stop so well if I need to.

Immediately I heard a pretty gruesome crunching noise that sounded like a bunch of crisp stalks of celery being broken en masse. I figured I'd separated my shoulder and possibly torn some ligaments or something. I knew it was bad news on the spot. Then I went to the ER, got x-rays, and found out that I'd broken my humerus in two spots. The whole process took around four hours - a bit long if you ask me. Then again, it seemed like twelve hours at the time.

It's my first broken bone; first official one at least. I know I had a hairline fracture in high school on my thumb from playing baseball - real baseball - and catching one too many hard throws at first base. That one hurt, but not too terribly bad. I also had another baseball-related broken bone from having someone step on my pinkie toe with their metal cleats. Made my toe look like a little fat blood sausage, that one. I know... it was nasty, and hurt pretty fiercely too. However, neither of those injuries was anywhere near as incapacitating, or painful, as this wiffle ball injury.

I can't do much of anything. Or, now I can because I've relearned my entire existence based upon having only one functioning arm. But for the first three days I wasn't doing so well in life. Each moment was miserable. And I'm not meaning to be a drama queen, but seriously. The pain was extraordinary - it's since moved into the realm of "dealable."

The fractures are on my humerus at the very top where it connects with my shoulder. I likely have ligament or tendon damage, that's TBD sometime next week with an MRI. Fingers crossed, because I'd really rather not add rotator cuff surgery to the recovery mix. As it is now, simple acts such as putting on my socks can take minutes. I can't really fully bend over to pick anything up, I fear very crowded scenarios such as concerts or subway cars (I know right?), and I can't lay down flat to sleep in a bed. I've been sleeping entirely on the couch, propped up on my good shoulder with the bad one pointed skyward, hoping that I don't move in my sleep and wake up to sharp self-inflicted shooting shoulder pain. This tactic allows me to sleep for a few hours at a time; which is nice, all things considered. But any sudden movement of my left side involves potential terror... laughing, coughing, or sneezing hurts like a mofo and I've quickly grown tired of my sling and the side effects (no cast for this particular combination of fractures). Add to all of this the fact that I'm no big fan of my prescribed painkillers (Vicodin) and you might see why I've been a bit grumpy and inactive since last Friday. Did I wish this upon myself??

There was a time about ten years ago when I figured I'd probably never get to experience a real fracture. I was well past my "danger years" so, other than something like a random car crash, how could I break any bones now? Especially living in a slow and mellow place like North Carolina... no broken bones to be found there. And then I moved to New York City and that kind of thinking completely changed. The danger quotient skyrocketed from the moment I struggled to carry my guitar, suitcase, and synthesizer up five flights of stairs (all at once) to my first (nasty) New York apartment. I imagined what inevitable scenario would lead to my first fracture now that I lived in danger zone numero uno (and this was pre-September 11th, mind you). A mugging? Being caught in subway doors? Walking up and down those very stairs to and from my rat-partment every day?? A fall from a party on a roof deck in Williamsburg? Being hit by a taxi? Walking by a tall building and having the misfortune of being directly underneath some miserable soul who'd just lept out a window 50 stories above?? The possibilities were endless. Little did I know, the danger did not lie waiting for me in the harrowing concrete jungle of New York City; rather, I'd meet my doom back in sleepy old North Carolina playing an overtly low-impact sport called wiffle ball in a backyard (of all undangerous places) with my ten year old nephew...

"Suburbs and backyards may break my bones but New York City will never hurt me."

I think I'll stay here in the city for a while. Resting and recovering away from the perils of suburban backyard life. Typing. With. My. One. Good. Arm.

*above image from HERE.

Buy Bee Hives on Amazon.

EAR FARM's 8+ is a weekly feature that showcases songs longer than 8 minutes. In the recent past these songs were featured on EF's 8+:
Oingo Boingo - "Change"
Count Basie - "Blues For The Barbecue"
The Besnard Lakes - "You've Got to Want to Be a Star"
M83 - "Couleurs"
David Byrne - "Happy Suicide"
Fleetwood Mac - "Oh Well"
Phish - "You Enjoy Myself"
Green Day - "Homecoming"

To see a full list of every song featured in EAR FARM's 8+ click HERE.

The Streets will walk to the South of France for a video?

The Streets - aka Mike Skinner - unveiled some interesting news this morning via an entry on his MySpace blog. Attempting to shoot what he refers to as a "music video-type music video" for the new song "The Escapist", he wrote:

For this work of creative moving imagery I have decided to walk to the south of France. I will be relaying the highlights of it with you over the next few weeks of my journey. The fuller story will also be told on our new www.beatstevie.com website, but check that at your peril as it currently resembles a building site. Mayhem is trying to work out how to design websites.

From a grey Dover I bid my English and Albion farewell. Long live Michael Palin.

Okay, now for some context. Apparently, "The Escapist" was originally intended to be included in a film of the same name, but after the director rejected it Skinner decided to put it on his forthcoming album instead. And according to the Beat Stevie site (Beat Stevie being Skinner's "anything goes-based television show" that airs on Channel 4 in the UK), work on the new album - the Streets' fourth full length - is complete and a mastering date has been set for June 19th with the hopes of releasing it later in August. Just a warning though, any attempts at hearing the new tracks on Skinner's MySpace will only result in being subjected to a horrendous cover of Elton John's "Your Song". Honestly.

A casual Google mapping of the quest from Birmingham to Nice reveals it to be a shade under 1000 miles. Yikes. However, based on the ferry pics included on Skinner's blog post, it looks like he'll be starting his trek on French soil. It's almost like he's fit, and he knows it too...

Listen: "Fit But You Know It"

Visit the Streets on MySpace

*above photo found HERE

OPP

Jon Brion to score Charlie Kaufman's new movie

Black Tide to play free L.A. show as part of James Frey's book tour

Guitar Hero IV will allow users to create and upload their own songs, while first images of the game's drum set have also been revealed

Neil Diamond's newest album Home Before Dark is the first of his 46th charting albums to reach number one

Watch the new Man Man video for "Mister Jung Stuffed"

Santogold records song with Julian Casablancas and Pharrell Williams for Converse

And in other shoe collaboration news, Saul Williams pairs with Nike

Local H played every single song in its catalog during a recent seven-night Chicago stand

The Office's Creed Bratton is also a platinum-selling recording artist?

Band of the Week: Plants and Animals

Band: Plants and Animals
From: Montreal, Quebec
Sound: Lush, 70s AM rock gets sprawling, epic treatment with incredible results
Similar Artists: Buffalo Springfield, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket, Loose Fur
Listen Now: "Feedback In The Field"

The picture says it all. As if the cover of Sgt. Pepper's came to life and had a hallucinogenic picnic in the backwoods of Middle Earth, the happening depicted above is about the most fitting visual representation of Plants and Animals that I could imagine.

That this is also the cover art for the Montreal-based trio's debut full-length Parc Avenue (Secret City Records) then makes perfect sense, a fitting harbinger of the eclectic menagerie of electric folk, psychedelic boogies, sing-song flower child freakouts and all around damn good songwriting contained within.

The album cover is also as good a place as any to delve into discussing a band that has as much to offer as Plants and Animals. Without getting too preachy about the necessity of listening to certain albums start to finish - or too curmudgeonly by wishing for the bygone era of sitting down with a tangible piece of art in your hands (ie vinyl) - let's just say that Parc Avenue makes a strong argument for the simple joys found in fully losing oneself within the nooks, crannies, and broader landscapes of an entire album. Of all the records I've heard so far this year, this is the one that I'd most like to strap on a pair of vintage cans for, plop down on my beanbag chair, fire up the lava lamp, and listen to while obsessing over the liner notes (you know, assuming my bedroom looked like Greg Brady's).

Plants and Animals seem to not have forgotten the lost art of album listening as an event, and for that reason alone Parc Avenue is an utter standout. Of course, such grand visions haven't always defined the band either...

Formed while Warren Spicer (guitar, lead vocals - eventually) and Matthew "The Woodman" Woodley (drums, vocals) were still in high school in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the complete lineup didn't come together until the two met Nicolas Basque (guitar, bass, vocals) while studying in the music department at Concordia University. The trio put their first batch of songs to tape shortly thereafter, a collection of instrumental jams that would form the precursor to their current pan-optic sound. From these more modest attempts at songwriting, they eventually evolved into a phase their bio refers to as "taming the sprawling wilderness of their sound and sculpting real songs," which naturally meant the introduction of vocals. Thus, Spicer stepped to the mic and "lead the way to a (hitherto unheard of) vocal domination of their material—as if he had been possessed by the ghost of some recently departed soul singer."

Truly, and it's this emotive and dynamic howl that binds much of the disparate sounds and genres on Parc Avenue into a cohesive whole. As such, it's incredible to think that this powerfully effective instrument was the last element introduced and incorporated within their songwriting process. Alongside the crackling rhythm section of Basque and Woodley, Spicer's lived-in voice adds even more warmth and organic familiarity to the material. One moment, he adds snarling Mark Knopfler-esque affectations to the verse of "Feedback in the Fields" while the next leading the sugary sweet chamber chorus of "Bye Bye Bye".

Of course, with track titles such as "Faerie Dance", "Feedback in the Fields" and "Guru" and several songs clocking in at over seven minutes to accompany adventurous instrumental breaks, jam-band conspiracists may cry foul at the band's presumed lack of focus (as though they've gone a bit "too organic" perhaps?); such charges would be short-sighted though. There's an enormous difference between writing a long song for the sake of writing a long song and doing so because the composition requires appropriate time and space to grow, shift, evolve and resolve.

Every song on Parc Avenue unfolds patiently and naturally, and as a result the entire album feels fully realized instead of half-baked, in service of the song as opposed to in spite of it, and always pushing forward instead of treading water. Besides, if you were having this much fun recording the seven-minute album closer "Guru" (see video below), you wouldn't want to stop the jams either:



Luckily, we'll have ample opportunity to experience such revelry firsthand as the band is in the midst of an East Coast tour that includes a pair of New York-based shows this weekend. Plants and Animals and hippie dances oh my!

Listen:
"Feedback In The Field"
"Faerie Dance"

See Plants and Animals Live:
14 May - Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live Upstairs (with Rock Plaza Central)
15 May - Baltimore, MD @ 8 x 10 (w/ Rock Plaza Central)
16 May - New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge
17 May - Brooklyn, NY @ Union Hall (w/ Rock Plaza Central)
18 May - Boston, MA @ TT the Bear’s (w/ Rock Plaza Central)
01 Jun - Haarlem, Netherlands @ Patronaat
02 Jun - Utrecht, Netherlands @ Ekko (with Sunset Rubdown)
03 Jun - Njmegen, Netherlands @ Dornrosje (with the Do)
04 Jun - Tilburg, Netherlands @ O13
05 Jun - Dublin, Ireland @ Crawdaddy
06 Jun - Glasgow, Scotland @ The Captain’s Rest
07 Jun - Edinburgh, Scotland @ Wee Red Bar
09 Jun - London, UK @ Big Chill House
13 Jun - Lausanne, Switzerland @ Le Romandie
14 Jun - Paris, France @ Mains D’Ouevre
23 Jun - Seattle, WA @ Nectar
24 Jun - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
25 Jun - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
27 Jun - Pomona, CA @ Glass House
28 Jun - Los Angeles, CA @ Spaceland (with Panther)
10 Jul - Ottawa, Ontario @ Ottawa Blues Festival
16 Jul - Sherbrooke, Quebec @ La Telephone Rouge
18 Jul - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories @ Folk on the Rocks Festival
19 Jul - Yellowknife, Northwest Territories @ Folk on the Rocks Festival
25 Jul - Guelph, Ontario @ Hillside Music Festival
26 Jul - Guelph, Ontario @ Hillside Music Festival
03 Aug - Montreal, Quebec @ Osheaga Festival (Parc Jean Drapeau)
09 Aug - Marysville, Ontario @ Wolfe Island Musicfest
17 Aug - Salmon Arm, British Columbia @ Salmon Arm Festival

Visit Plants and Animals on MySpace.
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In the recent past, the following bands have been featured as EAR FARM's Band of the Week:
All the Saints
I'm From Barcelona
Bombadil
Tapes 'n Tapes
White Hinterland
Man Man
We Barbarians
The Dodos

See the entire list of bands featured as EAR FARM's Band of the Week HERE.

Fugazi Covers Project for Charity - Bands Wanted

Christina Da Costa, Jeffry Opdyke, Michael Sowiski, and Phil Rosenbloom have put together a benefit project for charity - Fugazi has agreed to let them produce and sell the album - and they're looking for more bands to participate.

The foursome is participating in Braking the Cycle (a 275 mile benefit bike tour which supports HIV/AIDS services provided by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center of New York City) and decided that putting together, and selling, a Fugazi cover album would be a great way to raise money for the event. All proceeds from sale of this cover album will be going to the benefit via this fundraising team.

The one catch is that the time frame is rather condensed: they want to have a list of all participants and the songs they are going to cover within the next two or three weeks. You will then have until August 4th to arrange, rehearse, dust off your 4 track, whatever, and get them an MP3 file of your final track. Sound exciting? Then visit The Fugazi Covers Project for more information.

See the tracks already spoken for HERE.

Listen:
"Styrofoam" by Fugazi (from Repeater)

*above cover of End Hits from HERE.

Visit Fugazi on MySpace.

OPP

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