Pimp Your Halloween!

The good folks at WFMU have a treasure trove of Halloween goodies, including mp3's to scare the kids at your door and scary-goofy videos, here.

Main Theme from "THE SON OF DRACULA" mp3

The Besnard Lakes...Tour with PB&J, Headlining Bowery

One of the most overlooked albums of this year is The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse, from Montreal's amazing The Besnard Lakes.

Thankfully for fans who've not yet been lucky enough to catch their live show yet, they are hitting the States one last time for 2007 for a bunch of shows with Peter, Bjorn, & John and a final gig in NYC headlining the Bowery Ballroom:

11/23/2007 Houston, TX - Warehouse
11/24/2007 Dallas, TX - Palladium
11/25/2007 Oklahoma City, OK - Cain's
11/26/2007 Kansas City, MO - Madrid
11/27/2007 Indianapolis, IN - Vogue
11/29/2007 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
11/30/2007 Louisville, KY - Headliners
12/1/2007 Detroit, MI - Majestic
12/2/2007 Cincinnati, OH - Bogart's
12/3/2007 Pittsburgh, PA - Mr. Smalls
12/5/2007 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom*
*w/o Peter Bjorn and John

No doubt they'll end up on a ton of year-end lists...why not catch them now so you can add them to yours?

The Besnard Lakes - "And You Lied To Me" mp3

...and check this amazing video:
The Besnard Lakes - "For Agent 13":

Shout Out Louds Afterparty with Bjorn...Not The One From Abba or The Tennis Player.

If you are headed to the Shout Out Louds/Essex Green/Johnossi gig at The Music Hall of Northsix or whatever it's called Friday night, don't forget the afterparty at Union Pool, featuring DJ sets from the Shout Out Louds & Bjorn from PB&J.

Shout Out Louds - "Tonight I Have to Leave It" mp3

The Essex Green - "Don't Know Why (You Stay)" mp3

Johnossi - "Man Must Dance" mp3

Oasis New Documentary/Live DVD Out Soon, Rare Vinyl Contest Now.

In celebration of the forthcoming release of the new Oasis documentary and live DVD set, Lord Don't Slow Me Down, and the fact that Oasis and extrawack! faves Manchester City FC remain near the top of the Premiership table, extrawack! would like to give two lucky readers each a very rare and collectible vinyl copy of the "Lord Don't Slow Me Down" single.

From the press release:
What happens when a film maker follows one of the world's biggest bands on a year long world tour? What happens when the film maker is granted unique access to that band, is present for the ups and downs, the moments of greatness and the periods of the same interview in 10 different languages in as many days? What happens when that band is Oasis, travelling across 26 countries on their biggest world tour to date playing to a total of over 2 million people?

The answer is Lord Don't Slow Me Down (Big Brother/Hip-O/UMe), a double DVD set that not only gives you the definitive feature length documentary seen in selected cinemas last year, but also the option of voice over commentaries from the band, a Noel Gallagher Q & A session with fans from New York City, out takes from the film, and a second 90 minute bonus disc capturing the band's homecoming show at the City of Manchester Stadium together with footage sent in by fans from around the world who attended that show. If you wanted to know what the members of Oasis make of their lives on tour and their audience, then the answers are on these two discs.

Directed by Baillie Walsh who has previously worked with Massive Attack (he made 'Safe From Harm'), Spiritualized, New Order and Kylie's Slow, and is now working on a film with Daniel Craig, this DVD set is a compendium of Oasis entertainment par excellence.

Lord Don't Slow Me Down contents:
Disc One:
-Feature length documentary tour film 'Lord Don't Slow Me Down' in stereo and surround sound.
-Bonus audio commentary - Noel, Liam, Andy and Gem guide you through the film with their recollections of the tour.
- A Noel Gallagher Q&A session with fans runs alongside out-takes from the film.
Bonus Disc:
-Oasis live at City of Manchester Stadium on 2nd July 2005 - sixteen classic tracks shot in HD with stereo and surround sound.
-Bonus Disc also features unique footage and pictures sent in by fans who attended the concert.

Lord Don't Slow Me Down will be released on November 6, 2007.

To win a copy of the Oasis vinyl (which as far as I can tell is their first non-Sony release in the United States ever, making it instantly collectible), be either the 5th or the 10th person to tell us what Madchester band Noel Gallagher toured America with as a roadie. Send your entries to extrawack@gmail.com with the subject line "OASIS".

Contest open to U.S. entrants only...sorry East Timor!

Oasis - "Lord Don't Slow Me Down" :

For Your Pleasure...A Dancing Elvis Costello Clock Widget.

Not sure why I find this widget so funny, but I had to post it here...do you suppose Elvis Costello actually signed off on this thing? At least the clock works...

extrawack! interview: Jimmy Eat World

In the midst of the release-week of their new album (which sits atop of the iTunes charts and will debut top-five in Billboard next week), Jimmy Eat World's Zach Lind checked-in to give us the scoop on touring and staying friends, recording in Mesa, and working with super-producer Butch Vig.

extrawack!: Your new album, Chase The Light, was produced by yourselves and Chris Testa, who is best known, I think, for his work with The Dixie Chicks. How did you hook up with him?

Zach: We met Chris in a studio in L.A. where we were doing some mixing, and Chris was an assistant there on some projects that we were sort of neighbors with, and he’d be in one studio and we’d be in another, and I think we just kind of popped in and started hanging out with the different people there, so we got to know Chris and thought that he was someone who we’d like to work with in the future. And we decided to make this new album in our home studio in Tempe, and we wanted to find someone who was young and excited about recording and was willing to come and live in Arizona for a long period of time...he ended up staying out here for about eight months. He was just a great fit, it worked out really well, and we loved working with Chris.

extrawack!: I see Butch Vig has an Executive Producer credit on this album...what was his involvement?

Zach: He was involved more heavily in the pre-production aspects of the record...giving kind of a direction and helping out with the direction of each tune and tightening things up. He came for about a week before we started, he stayed a little bit when we tracked drums, but he mostly stayed in L.A. and we would email him stuff that we’d been doing and he’d send us notes. He had one foot in the project and one foot out which was nice because he’d have an objective point of view. We really liked having him in that role.

extrawack!: The album, to me, sounds somehow more grander or bigger sounding than past albums. Is that just me, or is that something you went for?

Zach: Well, the songs lend themselves to sound a little more grandiose or whatever. We wanted the songs to have a lot of impact and we just kind of went for that and didn’t really shy away from it.

extrawack!: Something I really like about Jimmy Eat World albums is that they all close with kind of a grand finale epic song. I’m assuming that’s done by design...Is it difficult to come to a consensus in the band as to what track to end an album with?

Zach: Not really, I think it really wasn’t a big issue. On this album we thought we’d end with something opposite to that and it would be something almost very upbeat and pop and short. But I think there’s something in that we like to view the whole thing as an album with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Even though the songs have their own meaning, we like the albums to have their own feel of a story in their own way. And usually for us the song that leaves you with a certain musical reflection is the one that we put at the end, and "Dizzy" was one of those songs that felt like if we put it anywhere else on the album it would feel out of place and so we kind of went with it and stuck with the formula.

extrawack!: It’s a nice punctuation mark...

Zach: Well, yeah, that’s kind of the way we like to do it, you know? But at the end of the day people get the record and re-sequence it however they want. The sequence seems to be sort of a lost art, but something we pay attention to when we put together the album.

extrawack!: You guys scored Platinum and Gold status on your last couple of albums. Given the current state of the music business, do you think those kinds of sales are within your reach, or have you had to switch-up your game-plan at all?

Zach: I don’t know, we don’t need to necessarily switch-up our game plan...we’re gonna sell what we sell. I think we’ve been a band for about fifteen years now and I think the majority of people who know us have decided if they like us or they don’t, so who knows?

extrawack!: Jimmy Eat World are known in the industry for being "road dogs", and I see you have plans to tour until 2009...and I know that you and Jim have been friends since you were little kids. How have you guys figured out to be together so much, without getting on each others nerves to the point where you all have to take separate tour buses like Motley Crue?

Zach: I think for us, we’ve never really gotten on each others nerves that much. I think the fact that we were all friends before we started the band helps in that regard. I don’t think there’s any issue that comes along that we get worked up about or to the point that we are angry at each other about. I think the cool thing about our band is that everyone is giving it their all, whether it’s in the studio or performing...that’s all you can really expect from each other, so after that, there’s really not much to fight over. We have a pretty easy time of getting along.

Jimmy Eat World - "Big Casino", from Chase The Light:

Bidding Farewell to CMJ with Peter, Bjorn &...Doug!

Check this crazy jam from Galapagos in Williamsburg early this morning at an end-of-CMJ Party featuring Peter, Bjorn, and Doug Marvin from Dirty on Purpose:




Dirty on Purpose - "Mind Blindness" mp3

Peter, Bjorn and John - "Let's Call It Off (Acoustic)" mp3

PB&J track courtesy of Thepunkguy.

The Smiths' Andy Rourke DJ-ing @ Galapogos Saturday Night

elodieO - "La Mer" mp3

CMJ Day 2...Thurston & Roddy & More.

Check my CMJ action from yesterday at imeem, including Imperial Teen, Thurston Moore @ Apple, Ponytail, MGMT, and more.

Imperial Teen - "Shim Sham" mp3

Division Day covers Roxy Music and Sponge (!!)

We're sure you've seen some of the great cover tunes performed by Division Day flying around the Internets lately, and we wanted to be among the first to point you to a couple more:

Division Day - "More Than This (Roxy Music cover)" mp3

Division Day - "Plowed (Sponge cover)" mp3

We fully understand the hipster-ability of a Roxy cover...but Sponge? The poor man's Fuel?

Here's what the band says:

"Everyone remembers this song- maybe not the name, or the band that bestowed it upon us, but a recited line or two will bring a gleam of nostalgic recognition to the eye of the skinny-jeansed-est hipster you know. It's a dumb song by a thoroughly forgotten band, but somehow we killed thirty-plus van minutes in Texas coaxing from our memories the whole thing, from start to finish, and then dropped several quarters (later that night, at the Doublewide in Dallas) for the pleasure of reminiscing to the selfsame song on the jukebox as we downed pints of Lonestar.

When we started making covers, this song (somehow?) got nominated for consideration, and the notion was sort of too preposterous to deny. In taking on the task of attempting a compellingly indigestible rendition of a wholly in-credible track, I learned that "Plowed" stays buried in our brains for good reason; the melody is elegant and ominous, the guitar refrain undeniably propulsive, and the lyrics occasionally become profound. "To see wide open with a head that's broken" became a directive of sorts for this project (which was executed quite feverishly in two days); I like to think of Division Day's cover as the "Broken Head" version of Sponge's anti-classic anthem to regret and emotional atrophy."

Division Day Tour Dates:

October
18 Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall [residency]
19 New York, NY - Pianos (2pm)
19 Philadelphia, PA - The Khyber (8pm)
20 Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 [w/ Eulogies & Film School]
22 Atlanta, GA - The Loft
23 Washington, DC – DC Nine
25 Brooklyn, NY - Union Hall [residency]
26 New London, CT - The Oasis
27 Cleveland, OH - The Grog Shop
28 Pontiac, MI - The CroFoot
29 Chicago, IL - Schubas

I saw Dylan and Takka Takka in the same day...

Check our reviews of the eccentric new Bob Dylan bio "I'm Not There", the documentary about the bass player from New Wavers OXO, and a few shows we liked last night at CMJ at imeem.

Takka Takka on the Day Stage at The Puck Building yesterday:


Takka Takka - "Draw A Map" mp3

Easily The Most Badass Looking CMJ Party Invite This Year.

RSVP here.

Deerhunter - "Heatherwood" mp3

album review: Oceansize - "Frames"

Seeing Oceansize play Mercury Lounge in June 2004 is one of the highlights of my concert career. Having them play a room that size was akin to having Shaquille O’Neal sleep in a baby’s crib - you know things are going to get messed up by the end of the night. With such an enormous, thunderous sound, watching them gave me the feeling of teetering on the edge of complete destruction. It didn’t matter they were supporting Mclusky or that there were only about 25 people in the audience, as the cool kids stood at the bar down the hall or were still lined up outside. They crushed it that night. Standing next to one speaker, my stomach took such a beating from their songs that I had to step away for fear of losing my dinner. Leaving that night (before Mclusky), I knew Oceansize was a band I needed to see again...and again.

More than three years have passed and I haven’t seen them since and that’s because they haven’t been here. An EP, the incredible Music For Nurses, followed their debut, Effloresce - no US tour. Then came their second album, Everyone Into Position, a mammoth melding of sour and sweet, quiet and loud - again, no US tour. One of their songs was on The OC (don’t hold it against them) and they still didn’t hit the states.

Now comes Frames, the first offering from the German label Superball Music, and looking at their live dates, well, you know the rest. There isn’t a US release date for Frames, either. I’m still hopeful both will happen, tremendously hopeful, and right now would be perfect, because Frames contains some of their best work. Nine tracks, 77 minutes, including a ten-minute instrumental ("an old friend of the christy’s") and a bonus track, "voorhees" (a tribute to Jason or a shout-out to New Jersey?).

Frames is a tempered, steady assault, alternating in both mood and speed. It’s an album to play straight through, and repeatedly, to appreciate how well Oceansize deliver a sound that dozens of bands have aspired to yet have failed to deliver. Want to leap tall buildings in a single bound, run a three minute mile or bend a bar of steel with your bare hands? Even if none of these goals are on today’s "to-do" list, Frames will make you feel like anything is possible. To say Oceansize will soon be in America to show everyone how it’s done? Hmmm, maybe not. Until they arrive (gotta stay positive, though), I’ll listen to Frames and think about how lucky the people are who get to see them play.

Seek out this record, invest some time and be amazed, for these boys wield a mighty big hammer and they ain’t afraid to use it. (JOHN BYRNE)

Oceansize - "Unfamiliar" mp3 buy

Guest Blogging at imeem...Invite To See The Cool Kids.

I'll be guest-blogging (how nerdy does that sound?) at imeem's CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival Community all this week, so if you are looking for our usual tips/reviews/hungover-observations...check over there.

Speaking of imeem...here's your invite to their CMJ party on Tuesday:



You know you wanna say you saw The Cool Kids back before they blew up massively...don'tcha?

RSVP here.

Cool Kids - "Gold and a Pager" mp3

Download courtesy of earwigs & wax.

The Cake Sale Out On Tuesday...Best Charity Album Ever?

One of the albums that have spent maximum time in my home CD player this year is the import album by The Cake Sale, a band featuring a collective of Ireland-based musicians and writers who combined to create an original album of music to support Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign. Luckily for music fans on this side of the pond, the album gets an American release this Thursday on Yep Roc.

Conceived by Bell X1 guitarist and keyboard player Brian Crosby, the band is rounded out with Bell X1's Paul Noonan along with Crowded House bassist Nick Seymour and drummer Graham Hopkins. The beauty of the album lies in its amazing cast of songwriters and singers, all of whom donated their sevices (and in the case of the writers, their publishing rights) to Oxfam's fair trade efforts. Vocals on the album come from the likes of Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody, Glen Hansard (The Frames and the movie ONCE), Nina Persson ofThe Cardigans, Gemma Hayes, and Josh Ritter, among others. The album was a massive hit in Ireland, netting double-platinum status and earning Oxfam in excess of €200,000.

"From a creative point of view, I was interested in making a cohesive sounding record for charity by co-ordinating the efforts of a disparate group of people . All the artists involved wanted the Cake Sale to be an authentic album, with all the songs relating to each other in a relevant way" explains Crosby. "There was a really enthusiastic response from everyone who was approached to write songs or perform, which made it a relatively easy project to put together. Everyone got the vibe of what we were trying to achieve. In fact, the only tricky bit was co-ordinating everybody's conflicting schedules."

The album itself is an amazing compendium of the best of the current Irish music scene...you'll be hard pressed to find a finer collection of perfectly crafted songs anywhere. It's chock full of beautiful songs of love, loss, longing, and life, and there's not a second of filler on the disc...just wall to wall artistry. It's really a stunner.

The Irish Times probably said it best in their review:
"The Cake Sale is not just the best "charity" record we've heard in years, it's one of the best records of the year."

Stream the album here.

Buy a copy for yourself and a few extras for gifts at the Yep Roc store.

Here's the video for "Some Surprise" featuring Gary Lightbody and Lisa Hannigan:

James Murphy Spinning @ Hiro Tuesday Night

As if there weren't enough to do on the first night of CMJ:

Free Beer & Mr Murphy spinning? I can do that...

Free before midnight...RSVP here.

James Murphy - DFA Radio Mix 2005 Cd1 mp3
James Murphy - DFA Radio Mix 2005 Cd2 mp3

Make The Farm Bill Fair.

What you can do.

The Farm - "Groovy Train" mp3 buy

Rare Tracks From Spoon, The Cure, The Shins, Death Cab, and Others to Help Darfur Relief Agencies

In response to a call for help from Waxploitation honcho Jeff Antebi, a cornucopia of excellent artists have contributed exclusive and rare tracks to the first installment of the Causes album series, to benefit a trio of three very worthy humanitarian organizations with focus on aiding the crisis in Darfur.

On November 27th, Causes 1 will become available for download, and includes tracks from Animal Collective, The Black Keys, Bloc Party, Bright Eyes, Cornelius, The Cure, David Sylvian, Death Cab for Cutie, (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Shins remixed by Clint Mansell of Pop Will Eat Itself, Spoon, Teargas & Plateglass, Thievery Corporation and Travis.

100% of the proceeds will go to three non-profit organizations: Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam.

The album will be available digitally on iTunes for only 90 days.

“We’ve made a conscious decision to create a sense of urgency -- which mirrors the events taking place in Darfur -- it’s not just a symbolic gesture.” says Antebi, who is known as one of the entertainment industry's leading human rights activists, as well as manager of Danger Doom, Cee-Lo and Gnarls Barkley.

Causes 1 track listing:

Animal Collective: Safer (Live) [exclusive]

The Black Keys: Stay All Night (Chulahoma Session) [exclusive]

Bloc Party: Rhododendrons

Bright Eyes: Coat Check Dream Song (Live) [exclusive]

Cornelius: Wataridori (Piano Version) [exclusive]

The Cure: The Walk (Live)

David Sylvian: Late Night Shopping (Chris Vrenna Remix) [exclusive]

Death Cab for Cutie: World Shut Your Mouth (Julian Cope cover)

(International) Noise Conspiracy: Washington Bullets

The Shins: Turn on Me (Clint Mansell Remix) [exclusive]

Spoon: Rhthm & Soul (Middle Version) [exclusive]

Teargas & Plateglass: One Day Across the Valley

Thievery Corporation: Passing the Stars

Travis: Gimme Some Truth (John Lennon cover) [exclusive]

...a pretty amazing lineup, to say the least.

A limited number of CDs will be pressed for retail. For pre-orders, and to learn more about Waxploitation's upcoming charity auction (which includes a number of prized signed guitars from Avril Lavigne, Common, Flaming Lips, Nickelback, and Deftones, as well as rare items from Coldplay, Bjork, TV on the Radio and others), please sign up at http://www.waxploitation.com/2007/causessignup/

The Cribs: Bashed Up and Back In The States

From today's press release:

Blood, chaos, mania, torn clothing, stolen shoes, hospitalization... just another day in the life of the Jarman brothers who, along with their fans, know a thing or two about having a good time (almost) all of the time. This past weekend, during a show at the Academy in Birmingham, Cribs vocalist/guitarist Ryan Jarman passed out after hurling himself into the audience. Over-excited fans ripped off most of his clothing before security could rescue him from the pit. He was revived and finished the show. Doctors cited dehydration and fatigue as the cause for his blackout. Two days later, following a show in Sheffield, bassist, vocalist, twin-brother Gary Jarman was admitted into the hospital after complaints of pain in his arms which turned out to be blood poisoning, believed to have been caused by cuts from his bass guitar strings. Gary has been prescribed antibiotics and was released in time to perform at last evening's show in Norwich. Both Ryan and Gary are fine. Younger brother, drummer Ross Jarman is great and isn't particularly bothered by anything.

I've seen The Cribs twice before, and both times there were blood and injury involved. At first I thought it was schtick, but I've come to realize that these guys just rock until their bodies give out somehow. They really are one of the world's finest live combos.

In a year that seems like they've played NYC a dozen times already, they are hitting Crooklyn again in November as part of their biggest headling tour of the States yet.

Here are the dates:

Mon Nov 12 Montreal, QUE Cabaret

Tues Nov 13 Ottawa, ONT Capitol Music Hall

Wed Nov 14 Toronto, ONT Horseshoe Tavern

Thurs Nov 15 Boston, MA The Paradise

Sat Nov 17 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg

Mon Nov 19 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop

Tues Nov 20 Chicago, IL Double Door

Wed Nov 21 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theatre

Fri Nov 23 Edmonton, ALB Starlite Room

Sat Nov 24 Calgary, ALB Hi-Fi Club

Sun Nov 25 Vancouver, BC Plaza Nightclub

Tues Nov 27 Seattle, WA Neumo’s Ballroom

Wed Nov 28 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge

Thurs Nov 29 San Francisco, CA Pop Scene

Sat Dec 1 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre

Pre-sale ticket info here.

The Cribs - "Baby Don't Sweat" mp3

The Cribs - "Men's Needs (CSS Remix)" mp3

October Bakers Dozen Downloads: Robert Pollard, Electric Six, Steve Earle, West Indian Girl, Dirty Projectors, and more

Since October's loaded with great stuff to keep us busy, like CMJ, Halloween parties, and never ending lawn raking, we are throwing our Bakers Dozen at you early this month.

Perfect for carving pumpkins by, or listening to while browsing the Party City catalog while deciding whether to go out this year as "Sexy Nurse", "Sexy Cop", Sexy Vampire", or "Beer Keg".

Steve Earle - "Mercenary Song" mp3

West Indian Girl - "To Die In LA" mp3

Robert Pollard - "Rud Fins" mp3

Electric Six - "Down at McDonellzzz" mp3

Say Hi To Your Mom - "Northwestern Girls" mp3

Dirty Projectors - "No More" mp3

Jon McKiel - "War On You" mp3

Art in Manila - "Set the Woods On Fire" mp3

Ravens & Chimes - "So Long, Marianne (Leonard Cohen cover)" mp3

Freezepop - "Ninja of Love" mp3

Morning Recordings - "The Welcome Kinetic" mp3

Aaron Stout - "The Coronation" mp3

Steve Smith - "Hit Me Up" mp3

Diplo @ Hiro Tonight For New Yorker Festival

Bloc Party - "Helicopter (Diplo Mix)" mp3

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Gold Lion (Diplo Optimo Remix) mp3

click this.

Video: The Bongos and Health & Happiness Show Reunion Shows In Hoboken

The Hoboken Arts Festival was the setting for a remarkable reunion double-header this past Sunday, featuring hometown legends The Bongos and The Health & Happiness Show.

The H&H Show, expert practitioners of a beer-and-Hank Sr. kind of rock that sounds as if it's from anywhere but Hudson County, New Jersey, sounded as if they'd spent the last eight years since their last album playing out rather than on hiatus. Led by James Mastro (who is currently in Ian Hunter's band), Health & Happiness also featured ex-Voidoid Ivan Julian (who has recently produced a new Fleshtones album for Yep Roc), Patti Smith bassist Tony Shanahan, and ex-Feelies drummer Vinnie DeNunzio...quite the Post-Punk pedigree.

One-off reunion shows usually sound ramshackle...The Health & Happiness Show sounded like they were ready to headline Ryman Auditorium...a totally welcome surprise.

The Bongos actually started as a trio (Richard Barone, Frank Giannini, and Rob Norris), and added Mastro after the release of their debut (and recently re-released) Drums Along The Hudson. That foursome cranked out a fierce (and playfully sloppy) set of their brand of psychedelic jangle to a crowd of a couple thousand festival-goers that ranged in age from newborns in strollers to grannies hanging out of the windows of nearby apartments.

The addition of the perfect early fall weather made the day one of the best spent Sundays I've had in a long time. Thankfully, extrawack! contributor Rich Schneider was also there with his lo-fi cam to capture some video action:

In the Congo:




Beat Hotel:



Glow in the Dark:



The Bongos - "In The Congo" mp3

download courtesy Joe's Pub