You’re probably confused. I just posted another mixtape. Originally, the September mixtape was going to be delayed and the I was going to go right to October, skipping the Sept mix entirely. Well, when I was putting together October, I had too much music, by about a factor of 2, so the September mix was back on the table, albeit ridiculously delayed.

This is the October (October.2) 2007 mixtape. It’s more toward the acoustic side of things. For the straight up indie pop, make sure you get the September mixtape.

You can download the zip file with the following:
1. mp3s of the songs
2. liner notes (pdf)
3. playlist files (iTunes txt file and an m3u file)

(for the iTunes file, simply import all the songs to your library and then go to file->import and then select the song list (the txt file). you should now have the 2007oct playlist in your iTunes with all the songs in the correct order).

If you want to read the liner notes before downloading the whole thing, they’re here. I am really surprised sometimes that there is so much good music out there. It’s a mix of local and national, old favorites (Damien Jurado, Mark Eitzel) and new finds (N.Lannon, Seabear).

Adrian’s October (October.2) 2007 mix tape (rapidshare link [1])
(I’m trying this because hosting the zip was a significant bandwidth drain. Let me know your thoughts on it.)

As always this’ll be up for a limited time (~1 week), so grab it now.

If you like the artists or songs, I suggest supporting them by buying their music, going to a show, buying merchandise from them or at least telling other people about them.

[1] If you’re having trouble with the rapidshare link, here’s what you do, step-by-step. 1) Click on the link. 2) scroll down and click “FREE” 3) chose a mirror (or you can leave it) 4) input the number/ letters they show in the graphic into the box 5) click on “download via…”

It’s apparently okay for music blogs to post movie trailers, right? Well, what’s it matter, this movie look great[1].

As partial justification for posting, here’s the soundtrack listing. Lots of Kimya Dawson and also Sonic Youth, Cat Power, and Belle & Sebastian as well as the old favorites Buddy Holly and Velvet Underground.

The song at the end of the trailer, if you were wondering, is All the Young Dudes by Mott the Hoople. Classic!

You can also check out four more clips from the movie.

[1] Hopefully it won’t be a Garden State-like great trailer, great trailer, okay movie situation.

Last night I saw Apples in Stereo (myspace) at the Wall in Taipei. I hadn’t seen them in a little over 5 years a fact that I was much more embarrassed to admit after the show than before (more on that later).

The band went on just a few minutes after I got there, at about 8:15pm, without an opener. Well, actually, just a man in a silver cape and light-up novelty glasses went on at first. He twisted knobs and played a moog for a few minutes, putting on an interesting experimental synth sort of thing. As that that wound down, the rest of the band came on.

The setlist was filled with old favorites (”Ruby”, “Let’s Go!”, “What’s the #”) and new songs (”Same Old Drag”, “Energy”).

According to their written setlist, here’s what they played (and from my memory at least, they followed this):

• Can You Feel It
• Please
• Go!
• Energy
• Do You Understand
• I Can’t Believe
• Seven Stars
• Sun is Out
• Skyway
• Rainbow
• What’s the #?
• Open Eyes
• Beautiful Machine
• Same Old Drag
• Ruby

I’m not sure what all was in their encore, but it definitely ended with “Tidal Wave”, introduced as the band’s first song.

I appreciated that Robert and the band did much of the usual banter in Chinese: “Ni hao”, “xie xie” and the like. The audience reacted really well to this; the first few times were accompanied by extra cheers.

The show was attended by a fairly small–relative to the Apple’s audiences in the US (they can sell out the 400-capacity Independent in SF)–group of mostly Asian hipsters, with possibly 100 people total there, but they were into the show and quite appreciative.

In the five years since I saw them, I had somehow forgotten how fun their shows are. I was completely amazed with how into it the band was. John (the other John; not that one either, the rhythm guitarist one) had a huge grin on his face the entire show. I really appreciate a band that enjoys putting on a show.

After the show, I talked to almost everyone in the band and they were all really nice and super to talk to. They also really seemed to enjoy Taiwan and their trip.

This will tie into something that I’ll write about the Apples later, I promise, but for now I’ll just say this: my faith in them has been restored.

More photos below, including some fun captions!

Read the rest of this entry »

Not big fans of the ask ipickmynose/ indie rock Ann Landers idea?

Alright, I get it…

(If you are, send in those questions.)

Daytrotter does it again: a nice set from indie pop’s violin-looping cousin, Andrew Bird (myspace). You can check out the words and the music.

I really like that they have the live version of “Fiery Crash”, which I’ve enjoyed and commented on before. Before starting into the song earnestly, he starts with a scale and then loops it over and it turns into loops of what would be pretentious wankery, albeit beautiful pretentious wankery, if it weren’t for the fact that he brings it back during the song and it works perfectly. This version also has a tremelo instrumental ending with whistling on top. Fantastic.

The other Bird songs (of the mesozoic) on Daytrotter are really nice as well.

it’s ridiculous graphical representations of data–or non-data. New York Times has a piece (registration required, bugmenot can help) by Andrew Kuo (who seems to do this a lot) in which he sums up a summer’s worth of McCarren Pool shows in graphs. It’s ridiculous and great.

(Make sure to click the “Summer at McCarren” graphic link off the main story page.)

You’re probably confused. This isn’t September. Originally, the September mixtape was going to be delayed and the I was going to go right to October, skipping the Sept mix entirely. Well, when I was putting together October, I had too much music, by about a factor of 2 [1], so the September mix was back on the table, albeit ridiculously delayed.

The October (October.2) 2007 mixtape will be posted probably Wednesday, so start listening to this one already! This one is more toward indie pop and October is more towards the acoustic.

You can download the zip file with the following:
1. mp3s of the songs
2. liner notes (pdf)
3. playlist files (iTunes txt file and an m3u file)

(for the iTunes file, simply import all the songs to your library and then go to file->import and then select the song list (the txt file). you should now have the 2007sept playlist in your iTunes with all the songs in the correct order).

If you want to read the liner notes before downloading the whole thing, they’re here. I am really surprised sometimes that there is so much good music out there. Great tracks from old favs Jose Gonzalez and Jens Lekman, new tracks from relative unknowns and up-and-comers like Caves, the Cave Singers and Octopus Project.

Adrian’s September (October.1) 2007 mix tape (rapidshare link [1])
(I’m trying this because hosting the zip was a significant bandwidth drain. Let me know your thoughts on it.)

As always this’ll be up for a limited time (~1 week), so grab it now.

If you like the artists or songs, I suggest supporting them by buying their music, going to a show, buying merchandise from them or at least telling other people about them.

[1] My online mixtapes are always between 60-76 minutes long so they can be burnt onto a single mix CD if you choose.

[2] If you’re having trouble with the rapidshare link, here’s what you do, step-by-step. 1) Click on the link. 2) scroll down and click “FREE” 3) chose a mirror (or you can leave it) 4) input the number/ letters they show in the graphic into the box 5) click on “download via…”

Is it:

• good?
• Advanced, as my friend David posits?
• bad?

Natalie Portman curated a charity comp which included a few new songs and some older ones. One exclusive track is “‘My Night With the Prostitute From Marseille” by Beirut. It’s pretty good in that “Scenic World” sort of way. You can stream it here

It’s two late now that the auction is done, but you could have bought a band for as little as $600. This amazing opportunity included:

-A photoshoot with the band done by a professional photographer (probably thelovelybrenda.com).
-One full day of rehearsal (minimum).
-A band listing with you as the frontman on MusicNation.com.
-One song written by you, with our help, recorded at a professional studio.
-One gig (that’s right, an actual gig) with YOU as frontman… location, venue, and time, to be determined. You bring your friends, we’ll bring ours, it’ll be fun!

But wait, there’s more, as frontman, you get to…
-Name the band as you see fit (currently we’re going by the title “Your Name Here,” but that’s just cause we’re waiting on your input).
-Dictate the sound (we’re a multi-talented bunch).
-Choose our image (we’re kind of a blank canvas right now).
-Hire and or fire members as you see fit.
-Write the “band rider” (the list of goods the venue must provide backstage).
-Throw tantrums (frontmen often do - especially when the venue fails to follow the rider to a t).
-And of course, you get first pick of any women interested in “getting friendly” after the show (ah, the many joys of being frontman).

It seems like that INXS thing (debacle, if you will) except it’s an unknown band, in fact, as far as I can tell, not a band yet in any real sense.

Your Name Here is their temporary name and at that link you can more info about them.

Song obsessions are those songs that we listen to on repeat. I noticed that my obsessions are often a week long. I also thought that other people might have similar obsessions. I’ve collected a panel of a few like-minded individuals and gotten their “song obsessions of the week.” Quite often it’s easy to explain why the song is good; it’s much hard to explain why we’re obsessed. Maybe you’ll become obsessed with one of these.

–

Adrian (me):
The Octopus Project - Queen (mp3) (buy)

I’ve been enjoying Hello Avalanche since I got it last Saturday. Usually it’s one of the first few songs that I will get obsessed with, but it was this slightly out-of-character closing track that made me backtrack, hit repeat. It’s got this nice bleepy keyboard part that is out of time with the dominant rhythm of the track. Then it has vocals, quite an oddity for the Octopus Project. Bonus: they’re really nice, and if you take them out of context could be one of those Sufjan syncopated vocal lines.

–

Keith:
Ova Looven - Power Windows (mp3) (buy)

Ah, remember the days of mixtapes, or later mix CD-Rs? There was something special about getting that handwritten package, perhaps combined with a keen picture from an old magazine. And then there was the music … I can recall some mighty fine discoveries through that venue. Including this song, a fantastic new wave confection from a band that rose from the ashes of Antartica.

–
Dave:
Steep Canyon Rangers - Lovin’ Pretty Women (mp3) (buy)

I just recently started reviewing Americana albums for WUVT and this one has been stuck in my freaking head since I listened to it. I wouldn’t normally pick a Bluegrass song, but it’s just so dang catchy!

–

David (not Dave):
The Stars - Fairytale of New York (mp3) (not available anymore? b-side to a single from this album)

Dear Stars,
The next time you come play New York, please play Fairytale of New York. It just makes sense. Also, don’t make fun of your audience for making requests.
Love,
–dave

Some people apparently read this blog and for whatever reason seem to value my opinion on music. Friends have long asked me about music in various forms. Now I’ll open it up to you too.

The idea is Ask ipickmynose. Maybe you have a question for me. You write in, I give it a shot and then in the comments of the post, other readers can write in with their questions. Questions could be things like:

• recommendations: e.g. “My son really loves that Postal Service song that goes boob boob beep beep beep. What else can I buy him for his birthday?” or “What’s a good song to start a roadtrip mix tape?” or “On November 1, should I go to Yo La Tengo @ the Palace of Fine Arts, Battles @ Great American or Architecture in Helsinki @ the Fillmore?”
• opinions: e.g. “Is it okay to like Coldplay?”
• factual: e.g. “What’s the difference between the Motown sound and the Phil Spector Wall-of-Sound?”

That’s just a sampling. Go ahead, be creative.

If you have a question, email me (or just put it in the comments to this post, but I’d prefer email!). Please put “ask ipickmynose” or “ask IPMN” in the subject. I’ll pick one and write up an answer next week and then we can see what the readers say as well.

Hard-to-nail-down local indie rock folk electro band Birds & Batteries (myspace), who I enjoyed seeing in August are finishing up a month long tour across the country, returning back in San Francisco next Monday for a show at the Knockout in the Mission:

10/29 Birds & Batteries w/ Silian Rail & The Aimless Never Miss @ the Knockout, 9pm, 21+

It promises to be a good show. End-of-tour-finally-returning-home show tend to be good, but if you can’t make this one, the band has a few more SF dates coming up, all available at their myspace.

Birds & Batteries - Turnstyles (mp3)

More mp3s are available at their website under the “music” tab. And, of course, the Bay Bridged has a podcast with an interview and songs from the band.

Posted every Thursday On Sale Soon is a weekly series of the tickets going on sale that weekend.

Where to get tickets: The Independent, Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, Fillmore, Warfield, and other Livenation venues. Another Planet booked venues like Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, Palace of Fine Arts, etc. Bimbo’s.

Am I the only one that confuses Adrian Belew and Archer Prewitt?

On sale Sunday Oct 28:
12/1 Pepper with The Expendables, Passafire @ The Warfield
12/3 The Detroit Cobras @ Slim’s
12/4 Juliette and the Licks, Suffrajett @ Great American
12/6 Suprise Me Mr. Davis feat. The Slip and Nathan Moore @ the Independent
12/7 Eyedea & Abilities @ Slim’s
12/8 The 8 feat. Apollo Sunshine @ the Independent
12/11 Tool @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
12/12 Jaguares @ The Fillmore
12/21 Aphrodesia, Brass Menazeri, The Indigo Belly Dance @ the Indepedent
12/22 The Matches @ Slim’s

1/19 JGB featuring Melvin Seals @ Great American

2/23 Adrian Belew @ Slim’s

Double check all information as venues and promoters often change on-sale times and days up until the last minute.

OiNK got shut down by British and Dutch authorities in a raid.

I used it’s only a couple times. For those of you big into the pre-release leaks: is this a big loss?

Will another one pop up? Or will another one that’s already out there rise to the same prominence? That’d be my guess.