Bikkuri Tales

If you’re looking to cream your jeans, go no further than whatever spot will be hosting Laura Veirs and The Decemberists. It should be a pretty amazing show, since the two bands should have no problem creating a silky smooth ambiance that will flow from one act to the other. The best place to see the two play would probably be the lawn in front of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, but since that’s not very likely, check the list below to see where they’re going to be near your town:

10/28 Chicago, IL Vic Theater
10/29 Chicago, IL Vic Theater
11/1 New York, NY Terminal 5
11/2 New York, NY Terminal 5
11/3 Boston, MA Orpheum
11/4 Boston, MA Orpheum
11/6 Winston-Salem, NC Millennium Center
11/7 Winston-Salem, NC Millennium Center
11/9 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
11/10 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
11/11 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
11/12 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
11/15 Columbus, OH Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
11/16 Columbus, OH Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
11/18 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theater
11/19 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theater
11/23 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
11/24 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
11/25 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
11/26 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
11/29 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
11/30 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
12/1 San Diego, CA Spreckels Theatre
12/2 San Diego, CA Spreckels Theatre
12/5 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
12/6 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
12/7 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
12/8 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre
12/9 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre

Go to the bathroom before you go, because the majesty of it all will probably make you relieve yourself involuntarily.

I’m amazed when I meet someone who hasn’t heard about Pandora… it’s an amazing service where you can create customized streaming radio stations based on a few artists you pick, or even one single song. Want to hear more stuff like Tom Waits? Or perhaps you’d like to hear something similar to The Rentals’ “Move On”. Simply type in a song or artist, and Pandora will automatically start building a radio station around your selection. It uses the Music Genome Project to find other songs that are “genetically” related to your pick… so if you choose something like Tori Amos, it will look for “lilting piano melodies” and “soft female vocals”… things like that

How do people not know about this?! Go check it out now at Pandora.

Mates of State has been around for a good while now,but why the hell haven’t I heard of them until yesterday?! They have the hot, hot boy-girl harmonic action that I love about bands like Quasi and Rainer Maria, and they sound like something I would totally love. I’m actually quite angry that no one made me listen to them.

It’s like Rushmore: An awesome movie that everyone talked about but I never ever saw, and when I did see it, I kicked myself for not having seen it years earlier. The only explanation I can think of is that they were popular while I was in Olympia, and Oly had more than enough of its own music scene. It kind of existed in a bubble, because we had tons of bands to follow and go see and enjoy, so we rarely saught music outside the sphere. With Calvin Johnson, Mirah, The Microphones, The Blow, Liarbird, The Strangers, and countless others, why would weneed to look elsewhere?

Anyhow, if you’re reading this, and you like Quasi, Rainer Maria, and hot hot boy/girl harmonic action, go check out Mates of State’s new album Bring It Back. You’ll thank yourself like I am thanking myself right now.

That sounds… so wrong…

I must say that Sleater Kinney is one of my favorite bands of all time. They had their ups and downs and their share of growing pains, but honestly, if they’re going to bow out, The Woods is a great album to do it by. As a fan since the self titled debut (and technically, even from their early projects, like Heavens To Betsy and Excuse 17) until the present, I’m sad that they’re breaking up, but at the same time, all good things must one day pass.

The fans have their memories, and music history has Sleater Kinney’s rock and roll to inspire countless future rockers in the generations to come. Thank you girls. We’ll all be keeping an eye on whatever you do in the years to come.

Ps. Hey Janet, that last Quasi album was fucking awesome!

The awesome kids at K Records nowhave music downloadable from their site for only 50 cents per track. Great for people who can't get a hold of the CDs and things, and seriously the easiest way to support great indie artists on a great indie label.

Check it out at the K Records shop:

http://www.krecs.com/Shop/index.php?cPath=61 

I found this acoustic guitar girl once on Myspace and she had a song called "Meet Me On The Internet". It was so great. The words were like… meet me on the internet… the lights are low, the mood is set… something something… something computer screen is on… double double double you dot you and me dot com… minimize the window I think I hear my mom tonight on the internet…

It was such a great song, super cute, but I have no idea what her name was and I can't track her down for nothing. If you all happen to have any clues, that would be tons of helpful

…is because they sound like Long Hind Legs. Man they were good. And ahead of their time, apprantly!

My friend sent me an MP3 called I Robbed A Cook by a Roxanna Rawson… he had no other information, so I turned to Google, and got nothing. Aboslutely nothing! What on Earth exists that cannot be found through Google? Apparantly Roxanna Rawson.
Fast forward to 2006 and Roxy Rawson has her own Myspace page where you can hear her songs in living internet color. I Robbed A Cook is super crazy, but her other songs are warm and soulful. Her voice kind of reminds me of CocoRosie, but maybe if CocoRosie and Fiona Apple had a super hip baby who could sing and was grown up. Please give a listen, I’m sure you’ll like it.

Ok maybe you won’t like it, but if you don’t try it, you’ll never know.

And that will haunt you until your dying day.

Roxy Rawson on Myspace.

Ok so maybe they are a cult, but you know what? Who gives a rat’s ass! What do people have against music that makes you feel happy, makes you close your eyes and see sunshine and rainbows and bunnies and unicorns, without the pesky cost and side effects of drugs and alcohol?

I think it’s the ever-pervasive idea of the American individual, the cowboy, the lone ranger… look at Morning Musume in Japan! There’s like 30 iof them and no one thinks they’re a cult! The whole anti-communist witch hunts of the McCarthy era made everyone forget that it’s ok to be social, it’s ok to have a community… The Polyphonic Spree knows this. Are they the only ones?

Did you know that Girl Scouts aren’t allowed to be in malls in Southern CA because of laws saying that a gathering of over 5 people constitutes a “gang”? GIRL SCOUTS! Yes, they’re annoying, but their cookies! Their cookies are so delicious!

Remember 70’s rock gods The Scorpions? They still rock. Just in case any of you forgot.