June
Panic came through town last night and graced us with some of his Silver Sounds. He was
originally booked to play the crappiest craphole in town (on a Tuesday night, no less), but luckily,
Paul had the foresight
to invite June over to his house to do a living room show. Everyone chipped in a little, got to buy
some merch, and had an all-round good time, which I hope made up for the fact that the later show at the club
was completely barren. Not-at-all unexpected, mind you. This is Columbus, and that’s how it goes here.

It’s worth noting that regardless of the situation, it was still immensely entertaining to witness Columbus
icon Don B. rush the
stage to do ‘Batman’ with June.

In any case, June and the boys are making their way to Jersey to record some new tracks with
Brother Danielson, so if you get the chance, go out and check them out.

04/30 Pittsburgh - Garfield Artworks
05/01 Rochester, NY - Bug Jar
05/02 Philadelphia, PA - Doc Watson’s w/ Mercury Program
05/03 Philadelphia, PA - Thunderbird Lanes w/Low Budgets
05/10 New York, NY - Knitting Factory w/ Jeffrey Lewis and Prewar Yardsale
05/11 Arlington, VA -Galaxy Hut
05/12 Mt. Pleasant, SC - Vilage Tavern w/ Jason Lowenstein
05/13 Atlanta, GA - Echo Lounge w/ Dub Nartotic Sound System
05/14 Pensacola, FL - End of the Line
05/15 New Orleans, LA - Mermaid Lounge w/ This Bike is a Pipe Bomb
05/16 Austin, TX - 33 Degrees In-Store 6pm FREE
05/18 Lawrence, KS - Replay Lounge w/ Enon
05/19 Columbia, MO - Mojo’s
05/20 Iowa City, IA - Gabe’s Oasis
05/21 Des Moines, IA - The Botanical Center

Baby’s Breadth is a really good record, by the way. And you can buy it from the
Secretly Canadian website.

On the Sidelines (mp3)

Very often, I’ll bitch about the lack of support that smaller acts get when they come through Columbus. I’m not going to it this time, because (1) It’s getting old really fast, and (2) if the Red-16 had been packed last Saturday night, I wouldn’t have been able to sit on the floor, 3 feet from the stage, to see Matt Pond PA. I suppose though, that the show might have had a somewhat better turnout if it hadn’t occurred on the exact same day as an OSU home football game, a street fair, and African-American Heritage Weekend, which combined in such a fashion as to make the OSU campus area a completely unnavigable gridlock nightmare.

Anyway, since I had to miss my trip to Macrock, I was incredibly happy to get another chance to see MPPA. And they did not disappoint. If you haven’t picked up their latest, The Nature Of Maps, what the hell is wrong with you?

The other acts on the bill were splendid as well; Bitter Bitter Weeks in an Elliott Smith-y singer-songwriter kinda way, and Lefty’s Deceiver in a rock-solid-indie-rock way.

Go buy their albums.

[mp3]

[mp3]

[mp3]

[also, note to self: in future, remember that Red-16 is a B.Y.O.B. venue. Keep this in mind, lest you wish to drink root beer all night.]

gac has posted more Macrock 2003 highlights, including songs by Mirah and Bro. Danielson.

Update: You can now download gac’s full report from April 24th’s Czech For Rabbits.

Rolling Stone has started the hype machine a-rollin’ for the impending release of
My Morning Jacket’s new album It Still Moves on Dave Matthews’ ATO Records. Early reports have confirmed that the band has *not*, I repeat, has *not* started wearing Abercrombie hats.

Yet.

Just kidding.

I cannot fucking wait for this new album.

Dude. Man.

Sexiest. Indie. Rock. Chick.

Neko’s in the lead right now.

(via largeheartedboy)

Some things just cannot be explained.

For instance, the fact that I can actually listen to, and what’s more, enjoy, the first 2 tracks from Oneida’s “Each One Teach One”.

Dusted Magazine, of the opening track “Sheets Of Easter” says:

And Bitchfork says:

I’m not decided yet as to whether or not I love and respect Oneida. All I can say for sure right now is that I think I’m finally coming to terms with my masochistic tendencies.

Hurt me, big daddy, hurt me.

2003 will henceforward be known as “The Year I Finally
Made It Down To Macrock”. “Almost”.

Luckily though, the remainder of the Nedia.net
Street Team was
able to make it down to Virginny and report back.

Of note:

• Ida was to “headline” the second night, but someone got sick or
  something, so they couldn’t make it. Therefore, the “headliners” were…
• Matt Pond PA, who were #1 stunnaz
• Bro. Danielson is apparently his same old normal self; He dressed in
  a enormous tree trunk suit and admonished the audience to sing along to
  every song, by following the bouncing ball (the assistant’s laser pointer)
  as it moved along the lyrics (projected on the wall by the assistant)
• Ian McKaye, I’m told, has aged gracefully and grown, whereas his
  fans, apparently, have not. “IAN, WHY DON’T YOU WRITE MORE SONGS ABOUT VEGANISM?!!”,
  “IAN, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT PUNK-PORN?!!!”
• The Mountains Goats turned in a great set on Friday, and whattya know, here it is,
  (It’s 50 megs, by the way. Hear that sound? That’s my server, crying.)

An open-apology to Damien Jurado:

Damien,

I really wanted to come to your show last night, but I
think have SARS or something, and I just couldn’t get up
off the sofa. I’m sure the turnout probably *really* sucked
because most people probably went to Yo La Tengo. Anyway, hope
you make it back this way again soon.

Sincerely,
Ryan

Damien Jurado - Texas To Ohio.mp3

Modest Mouse founding member Jeremiah Green has called it
quits after 10 years with the band. Though you may be saying
“…but they only just got Gallucci back!”, I urge you to get
one of those desk calendars, as that was nigh on a year ago.

So I’m thinking maybe it’s time for Modest Mouse to just throw
in the towel? The amount I like their albums is inversely
proportional to the order in which they came out (though
I do like them all).

Word on the street is that Jeremiah is now going to be dedicating more
time to his other band, Vells (I don’t think there’s a ‘The’),
whose Phil Ek-produced s/t EP was recently released by
Luckyhorse Industries.

Insound describes the album thusly:

“If Roy Orbison and The Kinks played Led Zeppelin songs, it might sound
something like this. Call it Elf Metal.”

Update: I don’t know who the ad wizards were that came up with that Elf-Metal line, but’s it’s way off. The album’s definitely Elephant-Sixy, kinda little Nineteen SixtySixy, but not really at all SixSixSixy. It’s just a decent, solid EP of 60’s-ish Indie Pop.