Yesterday I noted my belief that the act of (A.) “Spending Time With An Album/Listening To An Album” is quickly dying at the hands of (B.) “Just Give A Quick, Cursory Listen To As Much NEW Music As Possible.” I would like to point out that I see a direct correlation to this in terms of live music, as well– which is to say, while the list of small independent rock club deaths gets ever longer, the list of giganto-normous music festivals continues to grow. To wit, the experience of the small, intimate show (A.) is quickly dying at the hands of the bloated, endurance-testing, all-you-can eat festival (B.) I mean, Christ, how many “Festival”-related news items has Pitchfork had in the last two days alone? Six? Seven?

Anyway, we’re gonna haul our asses all the way up to Long Island City tonight, to catch some of that small, intimate stuff while we still can. The Creek and The Cave, 10-93 Jackson Ave, 9pm.

Catbird kin Forest Fire go on early, so get there 9-ish.

As ever, I didn’t attend this year’s EMP Pop Music Conference, but as ever, I’m always anxious to hear what sort of discussions went down. I caught this bit over at The Stranger:

During the final event in a long weekend of geeking out about music, an open discussion about “The Future of Thinking About Music For a Living,” Pitchfork news editor Amy Phillips stood up in a Thermals t-shirt and told a room full of critical and academic heavies that they are basically dinosaurs. “Kids don’t care about Robert Christgau or Simon Reynolds,” she said (Christgau had left to catch a plane, but Reynolds was still there, and he seemed rather unconcerned about these “kids”). Phillips went on to say that kids want their music (and presumably their musical discourse) fast, yesterday even, that they want to hear their own voices online, and that critics no longer have the “luxury” of taking time to think about music.

Phillips is right. But the sad part of this situation isn’t the part about the fading of the “thoughtful” critic, it’s the part about the “kids” wanting their music (and their musical discourse) fast. Not only do critics no longer have the luxury of taking time to think about music, they don’t even have time to LISTEN to music anymore. But in today’s age, why should they? The kids are barely listening to it themselves. Music has become a sort of online baseball-bubblegum-cards scene– cheap and disposable, with people more interested in filling out their checklists and talking statistics than investing the time to listen to some music.

Remember that part in National Lampoon’s European Vacation? Where Clark Griswold, pressed for time, rushes around Rome and pauses for just a few seconds in front of each landmark on his list before bolting off to his next bullet point? That’s the “kids today.” I mean, sadly, “Is It Good?” doesn’t even matter anymore; the only thing that seems to matter is “Is It New?”

Right, so…

That being said, I just spent the last 10 minutes going through the 200-some-odd emails that piled up in my absence, made a short list of things to check out, and then quickly sped through ‘em:

Jr Corduroy was a staple in my listening rotations back in the early aughts, but Jr Corduroy has not been around in some time. However, Mark Kraus, the guy behind Jr Corduroy *has* in fact been kicking around (in Brooklyn, rather than Boston now), and now goes under the name Tsui. A full length Tsui album has just been completed. It’s called Half Man Army, and you can download the whole damn thing FOR FREE. (thanks to k for the tip-off.)

Here’s Love Is All being cute in the studio, recording the followup to 9 Times That Same Song for What’s Your Rupture. Not the first Swedish band to offer a sneak peek of the recording process, and hopefully not the last.

How AWESOME, new Jason Anderson news! ECA Records will be putting out a brand-new Jason Anderson, titled Tonight, on August 22nd. I’m totally stoked. Those who have seen Jason recently have probably heard most of these songs; he’s been playing them with his band, The Best, for the past year or so (you can hear live versions of several on Jason’s Myspace right now, too). Tracklist:

Tonight
July 4, 2004
On Vacation
Movin’ to the City
Saturday Night
Jonesboro
So Long
The First Snow of the Year

::: Jason Anderson - The Hopeful & The Unafraid (live) :::

More great news: a new Minus Story record (My Ion Truss) is in the can and slated for a June 19th release on Jagjaguwar. I love these guys and thus am very happy to hear this.

::: Minus Story - Stitch Me Up :::

I skimmed through a bunch of the Pitchfork reviews I missed while I was out* and for whatever reason, noted down this one, The Crayon Fields - Animal Bells. Don’t know much about them, but I found this heap of mp3s on this blog, and they sound pretty damn nice.

(* FWIW, I did not go back and read through all those worthless “Forkcast” items I missed. It’s obvious that Scott and Ryan have those writers chained in a basement somewhere, writing up gushing blog-style posts in exchange for not getting whipped with a horsehide barber’s strop.)

Okay, I lied a little bit just so I could make that joke. I *did* skim thru some of the Forkcast stuff, and picked out this one: The Myspace stream of the track “Radio” by the Roadside Graves.” Good ol’ soulful Americanica.

…AND this one, an unexpectedly upbeat and bouncy one from Ms. Shannon Wright, whose new disc, Let In The Light (and I think she has) is out 5/8 on Touch & Go.

::: Shannon Wright - Everybody’s Got Their Own Part to Play :::

Oh, did I not ever post this track by Montreal’s Miracle Fortress? I think I meant to, it’s pretty good.

::: Miracle Fortress - This Thing About You :::

The Miracle Fortress full-length, Five Roses, comes out May 22nd on Secret City Records.

Hunter sent me a note about his new Bay-Area-based 7-inch label, Gold Robot. First release is indiepoppers Roman Ruins and the second is the TVOTR-y sounds of Panther.

I haven’t even listened to the new Dino Jr record yet, but I tell you, I was just filled with joy to see the new video for “Beyond”. Sigh… good times. Good times.

Back in August of last year, I mentioned that Yeti had put together a limited edition (600) LP to be sold at their Halleluwah Festival. I got a note that they still have a few copies available. Get ‘em while you can. Tracklist:

Soft Side:
01 White Rainbow - “Wind Storm”
02 Michael Hurley - “Short Green Man”
03 Vashti Bunyan - “Hidden” (not exclusive)
04 Katharina Tunicata - “Black Letter”
05 Tara Jane O’Neil - “The Partridge Song (Live at the Kitchen)”
06 Holysons - “Torture Chamber”
07 Alela Diane - “Tatted Lace”

Loud Side:
01 Yacht - “So Post All ‘Em”
02 Deerhoof - “Forbidden Fruits (Live)”
03 Valet - “Tame All the Lions”
04 Romancing - “Mind Jail”
05 Nudity - “This Man”
06 Sir Richard Bishop - “Dhumavati”

Don’t come looking for updates here for the next 10 days or so. You can keep yourself occupied with JT’s Catbird side-blog, and/or this, an archive of Catbird podcasts dating back thru August of ‘05, that I just happened to have kept lying around on the server:

2005 (Tracklists)
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005

2006 (Tracklists)
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006

2007 (Tracklists)
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007

As a public service, to save all the people googling “my fingers jingle” + “Puma commercial,” I’ll help you out right now. It’s the now-defunct Philly band Mazarin from their 2005 record, We’re Already There.

::: Mazarin - For Energy Infinite :::

This track, “Everybody’s Down,” from Get Hurt, by LA’s No Age, makes me want to ball my hands up into tight fists and jump up and punch holes in the ceiling. That’s how I felt the first time I heard Oneida, so, see, that’s a *good* thing.

::: No Age - Everybody’s Down :::

Buy Get Hurt here (12″ vinyl).

Shifting gears (quite) a bit, I had a WTF moment the other day when some random commercial came on and grabbed my attention by having a Joel Plaskett soundtrack. Specifically, it was from 2005’s La De Da; it was the song “Television Set,” and it was backing this new film titled, appropriately enough, The TV Set. Now, I don’t know much about the film, but it did remind me that I’ve been meaning to mention how, over time, La De Da has sneakily become one of my favorite records of the past few years. Specifically, it’s a pretty great record for a road-trip, and I’m sure that’s thanks in part to what I know of the great story of the record’s synthesis.

::: Joel Plaskett - Television Set :::

Joel (well, the JP Emergency) has a new record coming out next week on Maple Music called Ashtray Rock. They’re taking pre-orders right now.

Another great road album? 2003’s Drive It Like You Stole It by Austin’s Sally Crewe & the Sudden Moves, which I once described as Exile In Guyville multiplied by Kill The Moonlight. Still a good assessment, methinks. Anyway, I’m mentioning this because SC + Co. are coming up to NYC this week to do a.) a WFMU set (4/13) and b.) a show at Magnetic Field in Brooklyn (4/14).

I also want to note that there’s a Fulton Lights show coming up at the Mercury Lounge on 4/16. If it’s anything like the FL Tonic show, it should be a great way to spend your night.

When Idolator does their Track Marks feature on Elk City and their new album, New Believers, they better list me as “First Mention,” because I posted that shit over 2 years ago. I keed, I keed, but still, I’m just saying: EC’s been getting a lot of online coverage of late, and I’m glad about that, because although their sound has changed, like, *a lot* since 2000’s Status, they’ve still got “it,” and this latest record, out next week on Friendly Fire, is certainly worth checking out. I still like rocking this track, even after 2 years:

::: Elk City - Cherries In The Snow :::

Well, that didn’t take long. The band that Pitchfork, JT, and everybody else just recently posted about, Grand Archives, has signed to Subpop. (Tip-off via my current favoritest read, Line Out @ The Stranger.)

“[T]he way I listened to music had begun to change. I would find myself thinking too much at shows, taxing myself to figure out which bands had most directly influenced the one I was seeing, or coming up with all the things I was going to write in the paper to preview the band next time it played. Each time I did this I would suddenly catch myself. And I would feel this pang of dread[.]”

From music editor Jeff DeRoche’s resignation letter, The Stranger, April 4, 2002.

“EW has learned exclusively that a group of today’s most prominent independent music labels are joining forces to produce a series of compilations much like the staggeringly successful Now That’s What I Call Music series… the focus is going to be Walmarts, big box stores, [and] red states…”

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20034050,00.html

Good luck with that, guys.

There’s “Good 80s” influence, and there’s “Bad 80s” influence…and I’m hearing a lot of the “Bad 80s” influence these days (I shall not mention names). Thankfully someone pointed me toward some of the good; namely Brooklyn’s My Teenage Stride. Think Orange Juice, the Go-Betweens, the Wedding Present. Think (or thank) the Smiths. At any rate, it’s good shit. Their new record, Ears Like Golden Bats is just out on (UK label) Becalmed Records, and this track is keeping my spirits up on this cold and depressing (Good??? Ha!) Friday.

::: My Teenage Stride - To Live And Die In The Airport Lounge :::

Did y’all hear? Word on the street is there’s a new Halo Benders record in the works. Calvin and Doug are apparently writing songs as we speak. They’re playing 2 shows in Boise, ID this weekend.

I’m going to be away for most of April– after next week, there shan’t be too much in the way of new postings for awhile…HOWEVER, I’ve set up my man JT (not Justin Timberlake) to keep things lively around here. He won’t be posting *HERE* on my turf, but he has been set up with a junior-level Catbird position:

The Churn @ Catbirdseat.Org

He’s started early so we could work out any kinks, and it’s already apparent that the dude is a postin’ fool.

New mix is up.

I recently found out that the Sparklehorse tribute, That Horse Yonder, is done now. Swing by and check out some samples from the album, which includes contributions from Grumpy Bear, Levi Fuller, and many more.

Dude, the last thing I want is to have this turn into another “NYC” site (like the world needs one more), but there’s some shit I’ve just got to mention: Sin-e closed, okay. I never went there, though I did consider it a few times. But to immediately thereafter hear to that Tonic was shuttering was a real slap in the nuts. Now, I just heard that the Knitting Factory’s building is up for sale (though the venue is safe thru their 2009 lease). Decent venues remain, but considering that Bowery is a little big and Cake Shop is a little small, that really only leaves the Mercury. But if that one goes, I’m gonna give up on the live music thing altogether, sheesh.

Anyway, on that note, be aware that the great Cass McCombs is playing a scant few East Coast dates next month, including a show at the Mercury Lounge on May 6th. Buy your ticket now, I’m pretty sure this one will sell out.

::: Cass McCombs - Sacred Heart :::

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin have a new 7-inch coming out May 8th; it’s “Not Worth Fighting” b/w “Half-Awake (Deb).” Here’s one of the tracks, it’s positively Pinbacky:

::: SSLYBY - Half Awake (Deb) :::

Their US Tour continues on throughout eternity, with a short jaunt through Germany and points European toward the end of May.