Local concert photographer Stacy Schwartz is graduating from law school and is throwing a huge party to celebrate…

Staciaann Photography and HowWasTheShow.com present: “I Fought The Law”

Varsity Theater, Thursday, May 15 (tonight, people), 18+, $6

Doors 8pm, music 8:30 (approximate set times below)

• 8:30 The Sweet Colleens
• 9:30 Stacy’s Live Mixtape featuring Eric Lovold, Jeremy Messersmith, Jim Walsh, Stook!, and Brad Senne
• 10:30 Koo Koo Kanga Roo
• 11:00ish City on the Make!

(And tonight if you find yourself injured or wronged for whatever reason [moshpit injury, date embarrasses you, slippery restroom floor, bar tab mishap], you’ll be glad to know there’s now a legal professional at your service sporting an enormous camera in one hand and PBR tallboy in the other.)

An initial EP, limited to 250 copies, was released this past fall but sold out in roughly two weeks. In an effort to allow more fans to purchase the music, a 2nd EP (The Archery) will have a run of 500 copies and was made available yesterday. The third EP in the series (title tbd) will have a run of 1000 copies.

Check out this quintessential road trip track from The Archery:

The Cotton Jones Basket Ride : “Midnight Monday & A Telescope” (mp3)

The Cotton Jones Basket Ride play Minneapolis’ 7th St. Entry on Thursday, June 19.

Philadelphia synth rockers Innerpartysystem play Minneapolis’ The Rock June 6.

Not only did this band rock my face off at SXSW 07, their debut album, Soft Targets, (Some Records) is still a throwback favorite when I grow tired of Wolfmother and Black Keys, AND my photo above that features the Mayor of Austin and Earl Greyhound was actually printed in a high school text book used in Texas public schools this year. You would think I have some pull because of that…but no. No, I don’t.

US Spring Tour

• May 28 Baltimore, MD @ Fletcher’s
• May 29 Norfolk, VA @ Norva Theater
• May 30 Charlotte, NC @ Visulite Theatre
• May 31 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
• Jun 03 Nashville, TN @ Exit /In
• Jun 04 Indianapolis, IN @ Radio Radio
• Jun 05 Chicago, IL @ Double Door
• Jun 06 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
• Jun 07 Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop
• Aug 10th Liberty State Park, NJ @ All Points West Festival

I’m told the band will be previewing songs from their upcoming album during these shows, and following the tour, the group will head into the studio to record their sophomore LP.

Here’s the video for their track “S.O.S.” off Soft Targets:

• “Sierra” (Live, from The Ugly Organ LP)
• “Let Me Up” (Live, new song)
• “Donkeys” (Llive, new song)

Download the tracks here

Meanwhile, Cursive have booked studio time starting next week to record a follow up to their critically acclaimed 2006 album, Happy Hollow. The label tells me the band will be recording at least 15 new songs, including “Let Me Up” and “Donkeys”, at Mike Mogis’ ARC studios back home in Omaha.

You can bet they’ll be driving to Council Bluffs often to stock up on after-hours liquor during those sessions.

Also, band leader Nick Leet will be playing an acoustic show with former guitarist, Ben “Country” Baker in Shanghai, China on May 28th. The show will be at The Blarney Stone (an Irish Pub in China that according to photos at that link, is full of fat old white guys) at 8 p.m.

No word if Staciaann will be shooting that show.

If you missed Tokyo Police Club’s sold-out Varsity show last Tuesday, you absolutely suck. I’m sorry, but you do.

Here’s a concession prize: Tom Campesinos! of Los Campesinos! remixed a TPC track that will be included on a brand new “Tessellate” 7-inch, as well as the limited edition version of Elephant Shell.  The Tessellate 7 inch is only available on tour or through the Saddle Creek online store.

Tokyo Police Club : “Tessellate (Tom Campesinos! Remix)” (mp3)

]]> http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/05/13/tokyo-police-club-tessellate-tom-campesinos-remix-mp3/feed/ http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/05/12/new-white-light-riot-video-for-charlatan/ http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/05/12/new-white-light-riot-video-for-charlatan/#comments Mon, 12 May 2008 22:24:09 +0000 Porridge Local: Minneapolis Music - Video http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/05/12/new-white-light-riot-video-for-charlatan/

This new music video for Minneapolis’s own White Light Riot’s “Charlatan” follows the band members on a day of eating cereal, walking up stairs, walking down hallways and many more everyday things. That’s just how interesting things get here in the Midwest.

The band is currently working on booking a large cross-country tour. Be on the lookout for a video of them buckling their seat belts, putting on sunglasses and driving to your town in the near-future.

Honeysuckle Weeks has the kind of precision production that makes me lust after bands like The Notwist. Catchy melodies repeated and layered Philip Glass-style loops partnered with hand claps and bouncy rhythms make this one album worth playing twice — if not three times in a row.

Favorite tracks include “1940,” “The Wake Up Song” and “Xavia.” Stream a few tracks here.

Honeysuckle Weeks hits stores May 13th on Nettwerk and the group has a headlining tour that’s skipping Minneapolis (the jerks).

British electro-rock band Does it Offend You, Yeah? come to First Avenue’s Entry tomorrow, Monday, May 12, opening for Yo Majesty.

I’ve really been enjoying the new album, You Have No Idea What You’re Getting Yourself Into, which is a freak-out party in the making.

If you’re interested, just show up at the Soap Factory at 7:30 a.m. (yes, a.m.) dressed like you’re ready to rock at a basement show…

If you want to be famous, you better set your alarm clock.

I quite enjoyed We Are Scientists‘ 2005 debut LP, With Love & Squalor (Virgin) with its danceable standbys “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt,” “It’s A Hit,” and “The Great Escape.” And now the Brooklyn indie rock trio have a sophomore follow-up coming out next week on Astralwerks called Brain Thrust Mastery.

Stream a few tracks below.

The Scientists are back and ready to rock. Are you?

I’m spinning the new Fearless Records compilation Punk Goes Crunk today.

It’s the seventh album in the popular “Punk Goes…” series and features all of your favorites. Highlights include Hot Rod Circuit’s take on Snoop’s “Gin and Juice” and My American Heart’s take on “California Love.”

Tracklisting

1. Put Yo Hood Up  (Lil John) - Set Your Goals
2. Got Your Money (Ol’ Dirty Bastard) - Say Anything
3. I Wish (Skee-Lo) - The Secret Handshake
4. Men in Black (Will Smith) - Forever the Sickest Kids
5. California Love (2PAC) - My American Heart
6. I Wanna Love You (Akon) - The Maine
7. Kryptonite (Purple Ribbon All-Stars) - Emanuel
8. The Seed (The Roots) - Person L
9. Still Fly (Big Tymers) -The Devil Wears Prada
10. Umbrella (Rihanna) - All Time Low
11. Notorious Thugs (Notorious BIG) - Scary Kids Scaring Kids
12. Nothin’ But A “G” Thang (Dr. Dre) - The Escape Frame
13. Gin and Juice (Snoop Dogg) - Hot Rod Circuit
14. Hey Ya! (OutKast) - Lorene Drive
15. Tennessee (Arrested Development) - New Found Glory

Stream tracks here, yo.

I just want to grab little Lykke by the neck and shout, “Project, girlfriend! Sing out! Use that diaphragm!”

Lykke Li : “Dance, Dance, Dance” (mp3)

But the more I listen to her U.S. debut, Little Bit EP, the more I understand the appeal of her minimalistic approach to vocalese, the tiny oohs and aahs at just the right, the refusal to screech like Björk being attacked by a swan. All good things, really.

Little Bit is out today, and Lykke Li will be touring North America for the first time this spring on a double headlining bill with fellow Swedes El Perro Del Mar and special guest Anna Ternheim. There aren’t coming to Minneapolis, so don’t get your hopes up, friends.

Her debut album, Youth Novels, has already been released overseas and is sure to be headed across the pond sooner than later.

His new album on Nettwerk Records is ripe with 12 subtle, driving tracks of mostly midtempo soundscapes. Tracks like “Stars” and “System Error” serve as a perfect soundtrack for an afternoon of creative writing.

Andy Hunter : “Stars” (stream)

Hunter also co-wrote and produced the score to Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, Ben Stein’s new independent film.

Oh, you’re still here. Well let me share NYC songwriter Pete Francis with you.

His new solo record, Iron Sea and the Cavalry, is a slow meander across the sonic Heartland on an otherwise scurrilous day.

Here’s the single off that album and also lead singer Emily Neveu’s gorgeous cover of Radiohead’s “Idioteque.”

Calico Horse : “Father Feed Me” (mp3)
Calico Horse : “Idioteque” (Radiohead cover) (mp3)

If you dig that, check out “All Of My Trains,” also off 1×1.

Robert Francis : “All Of My Trains” (mp3)

Check out this track — kind of an upbeat European twist on CocoRosie.

mr. Gnome : “Pirates” (mp3) 

mr. Gnome play Minneapolis’ Hexagon Bar June 12 with Mute Era, Gay Witch Abortion
and The Nina The Pinta.

Black Kids : “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You (The Twelves Remix)” (imeem stream)

Catch them May 6 at The Entry with Cut Copy

This music totally hits the spot on when you’re still at the office at 9 p.m. and are opining for something fresh, upbeat and transcendental.

Here are some samples:

Global Noize : “Dar’abesque”  (mp3 via link)

Global Noize : “A Jam For Joe” (stream)

Global Noize : “Quero Dancar” (stream)

]]> http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/05/01/global-noize-dj-logic-jason-miles/feed/ http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/04/29/wallpaper-t-rex/ http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/04/29/wallpaper-t-rex/#comments Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:02:45 +0000 Porridge Music - Album Review MP3s http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/04/29/wallpaper-t-rex/

T Rex, the debut digital EP from Wallpaper is on iTunes today with an exclusive remix only available on iTunes or there’s a limited edition 7″ you can purchase it at the eenie meenie online store and get a FREE digital copy of the EP

Here’s my review: Worst band name ever, but the tunes are snappy.

Wallpaper : “Everytm” (mp3)

]]> http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/04/29/wallpaper-t-rex/feed/ http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/04/29/coachella-issues-lost-roger-waters-pig-release/ http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/04/29/coachella-issues-lost-roger-waters-pig-release/#comments Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:51:29 +0000 Porridge Music - News http://www.perfectporridge.com/2008/04/29/coachella-issues-lost-roger-waters-pig-release/ COACHELLA ORGANIZERS OFFER $10,000 REWARD AND FOUR FESTIVAL TICKETS FOR LIFE IN EXCHANGE FOR THE SAFE RETURN OF THE INFLATABLE PIG THAT ESCAPED DURING SUNDAY HEADLINER ROGER WATERS’ SET

COACHELLA organizers are offering $10,000 and four (4) festival tickets for life in exchange for the safe return of the two-story inflatable pig that broke loose during Roger Waters’ set on the final night (Sunday, April 27) of the 2008 COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL. The pig escaped and floated into the desert sky just prior to the intermission between Roger Waters’ back-to-back sets–marking the only back-to-back COACHELLA sets by one artist in the critically acclaimed festival’s history.

Anyone with information on the lost pig, should email lostpig@coachella.com.

“I wanted Hollow Man to be a piece that creates a chaotic universe that only really occurs on a desktop, backlit and made of light, and to allow within that universe varying levels of, and glimpses into, intimacy and distance, abstraction and distraction, focus and avoidance. All the things that flash across the conscious mind when you’re trying to work your way through something. The Pixelman became the kind of unconscious; direct, calm and absolute, but ultimately unclear in his direction.

I had the idea that Crush could provide a completely made up universe that references our world but flattens it out and mixes in the turmoil and tumult of emotion; in essence, like the character in the song, overwhelmed, incomplete, emptied out, on repeat.

Crush delivered brilliant ideas which became several roughs, and we worked closely on the ideas, bouncing them off of Chris Bilheimer and a few trusted allies and artists. I was inspired by Douglas Coupland, various websites that invite web experimentation that I discovered with Jacknife Lee, and Eliot’s “The Hollow Men”. It was great fun working with Crush . I think the result is staggering. We are already at work on our next project together.”

-Michael Stipe

The Forms

Recaps: City Pages, doodledee, Higher Than Highlights.

photos by Alison

With a slurred Jersey accent and inability to enunciate, Dov sometimes sounds like Rocky after 12 rounds, and his raunchy act is long on filth and short on jokes.

Stream a few tracks here and decide for yourself.

“Clouds” is the first single from the recently released You May Already Be Dreaming CD/LP (Saddle Creek).

Neva Dinova : “Clouds” (mp3)

Catch Neva Dinova Sunday, April 27 at Minneapolis’ 7th St. Entry with Ladyhawk.

Grammy and Dove award-winning band Casting Crowns took the stage at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center Saturday night and rocked our innocent Christian souls.

Baytown, Texas group Leeland opened, showing off lead singer and child prodigy Leeland Mooring’s first tenor choirboy vocals and 3 of the 5 band members wearing snappy vests.

Their best song of the night was probably “Tears of the Saints” with its poignant “This is an emergency” chorus, although “Count Me In,” the first single off their new album, Opposite Way, finally got the crowd on their feet and engaged.

Even if you’re not a fan of Christian rock, odds are you’ve heard of Casting Crowns. The group’s third studio release, The Altar and The Door, has made an enormous splash with the faith community — including a debut on Billboard’s Top 200 chart (just below High School Musical 2’s soundtrack, actually) — and overall, CC has sold 3 million albums.

Pretty good for an Atlanta youth pastor and his friends gigging in their free time, eh?

The seven-piece band took the stage — bedecked with gold-trimmed red draperies, chandeliers and silver screens reminiscent of the stage upon which they performed as the first Christian band to rock North Korea — and kicked off their two-part set off with title track “The Altar And The Door.”

It was quickly evident the clapping was going to be out of control for the next couple of hours. Let’s face it; Christians can’t clap.

Favorite moments included the fiddle vs. guitar showdown of “Simple Gifts,” all-hands raised and gooseflesh galore during “Praise You In This Storm,” opener John Waller helping out lead singer Mark Hall’s heart-warming baritone on “Somewhere in the Middle,” and “If We Are the Body” (my wife calls this the Oprah song).

While some of the tracks off the new album seemed less popular with the crowd — perhaps because they weren’t worship songs, per se, or because they lacked words on the screen — regular KTIS listeners could probably sing the chorus of more than half the songs unaided.

While I love a good contemporary worship song, there’s something about that church organ sound — pulling back all other instruments while the organ hits a power chord like CC does on “Every Man.” It is simply as powerful as it gets for us hybrid-traditionalists.

Quoting Psalm 1 before launching into “Slow Fade,” Mark Hall reminded us we can’t lean on other Christian’s walk, and it was continually apparent he’s just a humble youth pastor doing the best he can to break down walls. It just so happens CC writes a heck of a song.

With 8-9,000 packed into Xcel’s seats, we indeed were Minnesota’s biggest mega-church — gathered in an arena where thousands pound $8 beers and cheer on hockey fights on any given weekend — to worship not the award-winning Casting Crowns, but our God.

Amen.

(photo lifted from CC’s site)

R.E.M. hasn’t been in St. Paul since the “Vote For Change Tour” on Oct. 5, 2004 and adding Modest Mouse AND The National is just insane.

Really looking forward to this one.

Tickets are $45/65/75 and go on sale Saturday, May 3rd, at 11 a.m. at the Xcel Energy Center Box Office, and .