Oh hell yes it's Friday! There's no other day to post music like this. Action Versus Action - The Last Time You Were Here. I wrote about Minneapolis' Action Versus Action for Rift Magazine a couple of years ago. This was shortly after I saw them play at the Uptown Bar. My thoughts went in this order: hey, there's music in the other room, and it sounds good. Kind of like Weezer, but faster. Whoa, that guy is holding a broomstick - wait, he's "playing" that broomstick. And hey, the bassist has a jet fighter helmet! But the visor isn't...

Hey guys, I know this is last minute, but I've got one pair of tickets for the Pitchfork Festival this weekend to give away, courtesy of boost mobile. if you want them, go ahead and email me with "pitchfork contest" in the subject line. I'll pick a winner at random by Thursday morning. Wish I could go, but I'll be at a wedding this weekend....

Eine Kleine Nacht Musik - German-only mixtape Eine Kleine Nacht Musik is yet another alias of Henry Smithson, aka Riton, aka half of Gucci Soundsystem, producer and remixer extraordinare. He has a crazy new concept album coming out under this new Eine Kleine Nacht Musik moniker, based on the morotik-rhythm German music of the 70s and early 80s, and to introduce the piece, he made this wicked DJ mix. It features some artists I've heard of. That's just about all I can say, as, aside from the Kraftwerk songs, I don't know a single track on here, and that...

I meant to post this one yesterday, because I can't think of a better example of weekend music. I forgot, so I'm doing it Saturday instead, and you readers who only peruse the site from cubicles will have to settle for memories. Remember how on Saturday night you did that thing, with that person, and it was awesome? This was playing in your head. One For The Team - Best Supporting Actor. One For The Team is one of Minneapolis' finest bands, and it's fronted by Ian Anderson, one of Minneapolis' finest musical forces. He heads Afternoon Records, home to...

The Dutchess and the Duke - Reservoir Park. There was a predicted heat wave this weekend. It was supposed to be record breaking. They warned us to stay inside and be scared of the air. Turns out it's actually cooler than it was last week and nice 'n cloudy. That that, weathermen. They also told me that this Dutchess and the Duke band were going to sound exactly like the Rolling Stones. In this they were right. But I think you can make an argument or two that this is totally fine. One argument is this: If you were digging...

Love As Laughter - All Parts of Me. What do you do when you're an influential band that's overshadowed by your peers? When those same peers offer you a handout, do you take it? When you're indie-rock also-ran, Sam Jayne, the answer is yes. His new album, Holy, is on Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace label. This is a good thing. But even still, it'll probably fly under the radar just like his last one on Sub Pop did, and the one before that. Perhaps it's because the line-up changes frequently, and the live show is something of a scrappy, loose,...

Alright, fair warning: it's about to get really nerdy in here. And not cool-nerdy, but straight-up nerdy-nerdy. One of my favorite writers is Virginia Woolf. I don't think I can pinpoint exactly why, but it's got something to do with the way she combines realism and fantasy, and, in the same way, prose and poetry. Her books are usually three kinds of crazy, and they're great. Anyway, I just started rereading To The Lighthouse, and when I was reading it the other day, I put it down to check the mail. In my mailbox was Bloomsbury, the new EP by...

Moscow Olympics - Cut the World. Driving back from Malibu, having spent the last two days working on a deck, I was greeted not by traffic but by an unbelievably thick layer of haze hovering over the city. The closer you got the more you could see, but from far out it was just a blur. Moscow Olympics traffic in pastiche. The drum beat, the interwoven guitar lines, the hushed, hazy vocals – all of it is familiar. And when it all builds in the pre-chorus without actually erupting, even that tension is familiar. Still, it works, and I like...

Sony and Legacy Recordings are releasing a two disc 30th anniversary edition of Billy Joel's The Stranger tomorrow, which I think is excellent. While my own personal taste pretty much gave up on Joel during the 80s, there is no denying the greatness of this late 70s output. The tracklisting for The Stranger reads like a greatest hits record - honestly when I heard about this remastered reissue, I thought it was something like that because I didn't remember all those songs being on the same album. "Movin' Out", "Just The Way You Are", "Only The Good Die Young",...

Best boat party ever! Thanks to everyone that came out on Thursday night - we're sorry to the folks that we had to turn away at the dock, but the crowd was way bigger than David and I expected! Next time around, we'll have the bigger boat booked. To those of you who did come aboard, thank so much for dancing with us - if you want to, you can have a look at my photos from the party HERE, and David's HERE - if you were on the boat and took photos, please email me or post comments,...

I wrote last time about listening to music while on vacation, and here's another song that I found myself listening to while driving around Cape Cod. Alejandro Escovedo - Always A Friend. I've liked Alejandro Escovedo since I became a Bloodshot Records fan seven or eight years ago. It was his astounding cover of Mick Jagger's "Evening Gown," from the 2000 Bloodshot comp Down To The Promised Land that did it. I then checked out his album A Man Under The Influence, which blew me away. Escovedo is one of those artists who defies categorization: he's got country in him,...

Just a reminder that Thee Wurst Boat Party is this Thursday, July 3rd. You can still get pre-sale tickets from TicketWeb, which we highly recommend, as it looks like the boat will sell out before it sails away. My Cousin Roy, Lee Douglas, David Bruno and I are super duper excited about this one, so come get on board!!!...

Wade Nichols - Horse With No Shame Our buddies over at the house of RVNG are back with a brand new twelve inch of edits, this time courtesy of Wade Nichols, who has been part of the totally genius Mindless Boogie edit series, as well as remixing our mate Lindstrøm, among other things. Clearly you will recognize this edit from the original America song - a Dad Rock (aka Yacht Rock*) classic track - but the edit bumps up the bass and kick, and really takes things off into space. The other tracks on the EP are, really, just...

Forest Fire - Sunshine City. This is the sound of riding home after a relaxing summer night. You're all alone, windows down, slow heart, no mistakes. Traffic's not bad and the air's just right. But still, you're driving, which isn't ideal. Thus the slightly dissonant harmonies that creep in at the end, with that beautiful buzzing guitar that hovers like bad posture in the background. This is the sound of convincing yourself that it's going to work out in the end. And chances are it will. I know it seems bad, what with all the floods and fires, heat and...

My pal Andy D is leaving the big dirty city, and in celebration, he is playing a final show tomorrow (Wednesday) night at Glasslands in Williamsburg. You should be there. It will be magic....