PULL EM OUT OF A HAT

The Felt Tips - "Boyfriend Devoted". You try to set aside all the complications, all the things that come between you, all the reasons why not. There's no point hashing through things, discussing the issues. Oral arguments aren't going to be persuasive. Here's the situation, sing the Felt Tips: my boyfriend is hooked on Christianity and will no longer come to bed with me. But the words of this song are not the words of a love-song. The lyrics are not an attempt to win him back, or an argument for turning away from Christ. There's not one phrase devoted to the boyfriend's redeeming qualities. No, the lyrics explain the situation, that is all. And the rest - the affection, the devotion, the laughter, the love, - this doesn't need to be stated. Not a word needs to be spared. Because that love, it's there in the gorgeous Orange Juice jangle of guitar, in the jubilance of the melody, in the gold & starlight of all that song. It's there as clear as that look across the room, eyes to eyes, i to thou, your heart going ping. The Felt Tips are from Glasgow and they remind me of Orange Juice, The Smiths, and puddles on a sunny day. They'll remind you of the kind of rainy days you've missed ever since (s)he's gone. [MySpace] Raise High The Roof Beam - "Break My Heart In Two". When the uke's joined by a forest, a choir and a cockleshell beach, "Break My Heart In Two" sounds almost like a 69 Love Songs out-take. It's also got laser guns, weird pseudo hip-hop backtalk, and an address to Abraham Lincoln. In other words, it's a gentle bit of mess. But I get it, I think I do - because when your heart's been broken in two, when it's rended and wrenched, yr life tends to get gently messy. You sit in yr forest, yr cockleshell beach, in a pile of pinecones and laser guns and postcards and old photographs, trying to teach yourself the fucking ukelele. [MySpace] --- Montrealers! This Thursday at Sala Rossa there's an amazing show for the amazing price of pay-what-you-can. Shapes & Sizes, Sister Suvi (aka Tuneyards), Telefauna and The Luyas -- aka, seriously for real, four of our favourite bands in the whole city, yes including the famous bands. (And all were profiled during our run at Ajisignal.) I basically think you'd be an idiot if you didn't go. Remember to enter our Wonderful Video Contest! Under a month to go and there's tons of rooms for more submissions. To answer a couple recent questions: yes, you can (and should) enter even if you live outside North America! and yes, you can (and should) enter even if you are a kid! [photo source]

Von Bondies Photos

Another good show at Call The Office last night...First I was impressed with a band called SSM, who opened the show....a 3 peice from Detroit...they were more of dance/punk outfit...but it was good....The vocals coulda been better...
Then The Von Bondies ripped threw a very short and loud set.....with Christmas lights...They played some new material, but I wished they had played more..I did enjoy the old stuff, since this was my first time seeing the Bondies...

.....Everything went smooth....untill me and Rick came out to see a flat tire....Shitty....One thing none of us wanted to do was change a flat tire in the middle of Clarence St at 1:00am (after a few beers)....but we changed it in record time....it was like 15 min!!.....All in all...it was another good show....Minus the flat tire...CN

gorilla vs. bear presents: super furry fiery fuck

We are ecstatic to present the Super Furry Animals + the Fiery Furnaces + Holy Fuck at Dallas' own Granada Theater on February 1. This is one of the best tours to roll through Dallas in a long time, and we're just happy to be associated with it in any way. The Granada was kind enough to give us 5 pairs of tickets to give to you guys; to make things simple, just send us an email with the subject line "super furry fiery fuck" to gorillavsbearcontests@gmail.com, and I'll pick five winners at random at the end of next week. You can also purchase tickets here, they're expecting a full house. [flyer by david]

mp3:
Super Furry Animals Run Away
Fiery Furnaces Duplexes of the Dead
Holy Fuck Lovely Allen

BONUS:

Here's the kickass new video for the Fiery Furnaces' "Duplexes of the Dead," directed by my man Pete Ohs:

blog radio

mp3:
High Places New Grace

My Sirius Blog Radio show starts in about 2 minutes on Left of Center, so I thought I'd use this opportunity to mention Brooklyn's High Places, who I played for the first time this week. Their song "Golden" -- which will appear on the duo's upcoming LP -- has been in heavy rotation lately, and you can download it (along with an assortment of mp3s from this week's playlist) after the jump...


gorilla vs. bear BLOG RADIO :: January 14

1. HEALTH vs. Crystal Castles--Crimewave
2. HEALTH--Lost Time (Pictureplane remix) (mp3)
3. Yeasayer--2080 (Brenmar remix) (mp3)
4. Crystal Castles vs. the Little Ones--Lovers Who Uncover (mp3)
5. The Tough Alliance--Something Special
6. El Guincho--Fata Morgana (mp3)
7. High Places--Golden (mp3)
8. Hercules & Love Affair--Blind
9. Feu Therese--Les Deserts Des Azurs
10. Chromatics--I'm on Fire (mp3)
11. the Knife--Bird
12. Lil Wayne--Feel Like Dying
13. Del the Funkee Homosapien--Bubble Pop (mp3)
14. Deltron--Madness
15. Hood Headlinaz--'Bama Gettin Money
16. Ghostface--Mighty Healthy (nobody remix)
17. MF Doom--Hey!
18. Air vs. Mike Jones--La Femme D'Monsieur Jones
19. Santogold--Shove It (Switch remix)
20. MIA + Diplo--URAQT
21. Heiroglyphics--Classic
22. J Dilla--Nothing Like This
23. White Denim--I Can Tell
24. Os Mutantes--Ando Meio Desligado
25. John Maus--Do Your Best (mp3)
26. Jean-Claude Vannier--Je M'appele Geraldine
27. Tripping Daisy--Tragiverse
28. Animal Collective--Safer