Torr

Wall Of Sound Fest

Next Saturday (April 8th) I'll be attending Day 1 of the Wall Of Sound festival at the Ridglea Theater in Ft. Worth. Tix are available via frontgate for $20 per day, not bad!  All the bands I'm trying to see (which are listed below) are from Texas, except the first three who are from Huntington Bach, CA.

The Lassie Foundation / Starflyer 59 / Map / Midlake / Zookeeper / The New Year / Experimental Aircraft / Mazinga Phaser II / Mission to the Sea / Robert Gomez / Sleepy Atlantis / The Black Angels / The Southern Sea

Win tix to see People In Planes & Bril

I've got a few guestlist spots to give away for the upcoming PIP/Bril tour. Wales' People In Planes are on the road for their debut album As Far As the Eye Can See, while San Clemente, CA's Bril are touring in support of their debut album Airless Alarm. Comment below with what show you wanna attend. Bril will also appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 17th. UPDATE: Bril's appearance on the tour has been extended, so there are now more shows eligible for the free tix.

Introducing...

A couple new American bands for you...

Name: New Sense
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Style: Slightly-electro indie-pop [think late-'80s Duran.]
Release: Flowers Before Hours [EP]
Mp3s:

• "Ready To Leave"
• "Chase The Night"
• "What If I Get Sick"

Shows:

• 4/07 Crash Mansion - NY [free]
• 4/09 Mercury Lounge - NY [w/ Voxtrot, Irving, and The Glass Family]
• 4/12 Pianos - NY
• 4/13 Rothko - NY
• 4/19 Schuba's - Chicago

Name: Trains Across The Sea
Location: Oakland, CA
Style: Woozy daydream-pop with twinkly bits.
Mp3s:

• "I Watch You Sleep"
• "All My Friends Want"

Shows:

• 04/02 Noise Pop Fest - SF [w/ Chris Brokaw]
  

Out in the UK on Monday

Here's the decent stuff that's out in the UK on Monday April 3rd.

Singles:

Nada Surf - "Always Love" [e-card. Great 1st single from their quality new album.]

• Franz Ferdinand - "The Fallen / "L. Wells" [I'm no fan of theirs, but the new track (vid) is good.]
• The Charlatans - "Blackened Blue Eyes" [Average 1st single from their really-weak new album.]
• Belle & Sebastian - "The Blues Are Still Blue" [Poor 2nd single from their weak new album.]
• Ok Go - "Do What You Want" [Poor 2nd single from their really-weak new album.]
• The Immediate - "Make Our Devils Flow" [Debut single from Irish 3-piece.]
• Cord - "Go Either Way" [Debut single from English 4-piece.]

Bands I'm not a fan of, but maybe you are:

• The Zutons - "Why Won't You Give Me Your Love" [e-card. 1st single from their new album.]
• White Rose Movement - "Girls In The Back" [3rd single from their debut album.]
• The Fratellis - self-titled EP [Debut release from Glasgow 3-piece.]

Albums:

       
Tiger Lou - The Loyal [Jukebox. 2nd album from Swedish 4-piece.]

• The Organ - Grab That Gun [Vids. Debut album from Canadian all-girl 5-piece.]
• Morrissey - Ringleader Of The Tormentors [e-card]
• Stereophonics - Live From Dakota [2CD] [Stream at myspace]

U.S. chart report

Here's the decent stuff that entered the Billboard Heatseekers chart (artists who've never been in the top 100 of the big-chart):

• #01 The Sounds - Dying to Say This to You [10,281]
• #14 Editors - The Back Room [4,766] Not as big a splash as people expected after SXSW.
• #26 Band Of Horses - Everything All the Time [3,550]
• #32 Mates Of State - Bring It Back [3,381]
• #63 The Appleseed Cast - Peregrine [2,262]
• #70 The New Amsterdams - Story Like a Scar [2,090]
• #113 Sondre Lerche - Duper Sessions [1,579]
• #135 Richard Aschcroft - Keys to the World (CD & DVD) [1,395] And that's after opening for Coldplay! Virgin cannot be happy. Of course it didn't help that there was no DVD-less (aka cheaper) release.

And these albums did not chart:

• Slow Runner - No Disassemble [e-card]
• Essex Green - Cannibal Sea
• Pilate - Caught by the Window
• Midstates - Boxing Twilight
• Gus Black - Autumn Days
• Mclucksy - Mcluskyism

Bits & Bobs

Tues:
Conan: Richard Ashcroft 

Wed:
Regis & Kelly: Richard Ashcroft
Leno: The Strokes
Carson Daly: Aqualung

Thurs:
Letterman: The Flaming Lips
Conan: Editors [they'll also be on MTV2's Subterranean on April 3rd]
Carson Daly: Nada Surf
Colbert Report: Robert Greenwald

Fri:
Leno: Beth Orton

Times Online has interview podcasts:

• Editors
• Ryan Adams
• Graham Coxon

Posterscope has designed ten UK bus-stops in which you can plug-in your headphones and hear music by unsigned bands that feature on the Slashmusic site. [via]

The Last Record Shop

Kondoff's Records is located in Miamisburg, OH. The store opened in the early '50s and closed 1970. The kicker? Its contents have sat untouched for the past 36 years! Two record collectors recently bought the store and are showing it's wares to the world. To see some of the goodies from the store go to the Austin Record Show April 1-2.

[Here are some of their photos, click to enlarge.]

DL new PSB single

Pet Shop Boys are back with one of their biggest-dumbest-gayest songs in years, and it's the first single to their upcoming album Fundamental. I actually really liked their Marr-guitar-centric sound on Release, but I'm probably the only one.

• "I'm With Stupid" [3.27]

BONUS: Here are a couple recently unearthed demos from Moz's Southpaw Grammar sessions:

• "Honey You Know Where To Find Me" [3:02]
• "Reader Meet Author" [acoustic demo, 3:17]
  Speaking of Moz, he won't play Canada, in protest of their seal hunting.

BONUS 2: Thanks to someone for pointing out that a few songs from Snow Patrol's Eyes Open have leaked:

• "Chasing Cars" [By far the best of these 4 tracks]
• "Hands Open"
• "You're All I Have"
• "Set Fire To The Third Bar" [a duet with Martha Wainwright]

UK chart report

Here's the decent stuff that entered the UK charts this weekend...

Singles:

• #02 Embrace - "Natures Law" [e-card. Their highest charting single ever; too bad it's with one of their weakest singles ever. BTW: They're gonna do the official world cup song.]
   
• #18 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Gold Lion"
• #25 The Strokes - "Heart In A Cage"

Indie-label singles chart:

• #10 The Organ - "Brother" [Vid. 2nd single from all-girl Canadian 5-piece.]
• #18 Crosbi - "Sonny" [clip. 2nd single from Welsh 5-piece.]
• #20 Oceansize - "New Pin"
• #25 Les Incompetents - "How It All Went Wrong" [7"-only]
• #32 Belarus - "Standing In The Right Place" [7"-only]

These singles did not chart:

• Richard Hawley - "Born Under A Bad Sign" [Vid]
• Tahiti 80 - "Big Day" [1st UK-single from their really weak new album.]
• Vanlustbader - "Rock'n'Roll Part III" [Vid]

Indie-lable album chart:

• #18 Skin - Fake Chemical State [Features a few songs co-written by Paul Draper.]

Out in the U.S. on Tuesday

       
Margot & The Nuclear So & So's - Dust of Retreat [e-card. Stream the whole album. Probably the best debut album of the year from this Indiana 8-piece. They were also one of the best bands I saw at SXSW.]

       
People In Planes - As Far As the Eye Can See [e-card. Debut album from America-sounding Welsh 5-piece.]

• Matt Costa - Songs We Sing
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones [I don't like 'em, but maybe you do.]
• Morrissey - "You Have Killed Me" [U.S. single contains all 3 b-sides!]
• Bill Maher - New Rules: Polite Musings From a Timid Observer [audiobook]

Re-issues:

• The Cure - Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith, Pornography
• The Electric Light Orchesta - No Answer, ELO 2
• Giant Drag - Hearts & Unicorns
• One Step Closer: Why U2 Matters to Those Seeking God [paperback. Oh god...pun intended.]