Utahpolis

Yelle’s debut album, Pop-Up, has been in the stores for almost a year now so it’s a little odd that she’s just now getting around to releasing a video for “Ce Jeu”.  That’s ok with me though, since the video is tres fantastique.  Nice, colorful candy for the eyes and ears.

It occurred to me the other day how great it is that artists once again have a way of getting their videos out there to people who want to see them.  I grew up watching MTV and VH1 in the 80’s and early 90’s and can’t stand what they have turned into.  Few things anger me more then flipping past MTV and seeing some bullshit reality teen show.  If the record labels are so concerned about album sales, why don’t they throw their weight around and force MTV and VH1 to show videos again?

Here’s a remix of “Ce Jeu” done by Cool Kids Can’t Die.  It never went over well in my DJ set, but maybe it will do wonders for you.  Who knows.

Yelle - Ce Jeu (Cool Kids Can’t Die Remix)

TOUR DATES

SAT AUG 9 - Summer Sonic Festival - Tokyo, Japan
SUN AUG 10 - Summer Sonic Festival - Osaka, Japan
FRI SEPT 26 - Niceto Club - Buenos Aires, Argentina
FRI OCT 3 - ? - Mexico City, Mexico
SAT OCT 4 - ? - Monterrey, California
TUE OCT 7 - House of Blues - Dallas, Texas
WED OCT 8 - The Mohawk - Austin, Texas
FRI OCT 10 - Polish American Legion - Miami, Ohio
SAT OCT 11 - Social - Orlando, Florida
MON OCT 13 - 9:30 Club - Washington, D.C.
TUE OCT 14 - Webster Hall - New York, New York
WED OCT 15 - Roxy Theater - Boston, Massachusetts
SAT OCT 18 - Airwaves Festival - Reykjavik, Iceland
MON OCT 20 - Magic Stick - Detroit, Illinois
TUE OCT 21 - Logan Square Auditorium - Chicago, Illinois
WED OCT 22 - Turner Hall - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
FRI OCT 24 - Ogden Theater - Denver, Colorado
SAT OCT 25 - Urban Lounge - Salt Lake City, Utah
MON OCT 27 - Neumo’s - Seattle, Washington
TUE OCT 28 - Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver, British Columbia
WED OCT 29 - Berbati’s - Portland, Oregon
FRI OCT 31 - Mezzanine - San Francisco, California
SAT NOV 1 - Henry Fonda Theater - Los Angeles, California
SUN NOV 2 - Beauty Bar - San Diego, California

Is there any band more eternally hip than Stereolab?  I mean, you never hear hipsters bitching about how lame Stereolab is.  It’s just kind of an accepted fact that they’re untouchable.

Stereolab - Neon Beanbag

“Neon Beanbag” comes from Stereolab’s first album of new material since 2006’s EP collection, Fab Four Suture.  Chemical Chords will be released on the equally legendary 4AD label on August 19th.

Honestly, I wasn’t aware that Stereolab was still a functioning group.  I kind of lost track of them after I left my jobs at CD Central and WRFL and focused on booking bands instead.  Also, there was the tragic death of long-time member Mary Hansen in 2002 as well as the various spin off groups like Imitation Electric Piano and Monade that seemed to signal the end.  As it turns out, Stereolab has been steadily releasing albums all along.  Where have I been?

Stereolab - Silver Sands

Chemical Chords, happily, seems to be classic Stereolab.  I’m sure the glockenspiel makers everywhere are rejoicing.

TOUR DATES A PLENTY BA DA BA DA BA TOUR DATES A PLENTY

SAT SEPT 20 - W/Atlas Sound - Detroit Bar - Costa Mesa, California
SUN SEPT 21 - W/Atlas Sound - Glass House - Pomona, California
WED SEPT 24 - W/Atlas Sound - La Zona Rosa - Austin, Texas
FRI SEPT 26 - W/Atlas Sound - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, Georgia
SAT SEPT 27 - W/Atlas Sound - 40 Watt Club - Athens, Georgia
MON SEPT 29 - W/Atlas Sound - Cat’s Cradle - Carrboro, North Carolina
TUE SEPT 30 - W/Atlas Sound, Chessie - 9:30 Club - Washington, D.C.
WED OCT 1 - W/Atlas Sound, The Van Allen Belt - Trocadero Theatre - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
THU OCT 2 - W/The Van Allen Belt - Fillmore at Irving Plaza - New York, New York
FRI OCT 3 - Fillmore at Irving Plaza - New York, New York
SAT OCT 4 - W/Monade - Fillmore at Irving Plaza - New York, New York
MON OCT 6 - W/Monade - Paradise - Boston, Massachusetts
TUE OCT 7 - W/Monade - Club Soda - Montreal, Quebec
WED OCT 8 - W/Monade - Phoenix Concert Theatre - Toronto, Ontario
THU OCT 9 - W/Monade - Crofoot - Detroit, Michigan
FRI OCT 10 - W/Monade - Vic Theatre - Chicago, Illinois
SUN OCT 12 - W/Monade - First Avenue - Minneapolis, Minnesota
TUE OCT 14 - W/Monade - Gothic Theatre - Denver, Colorado
FRI OCT 17 - W/Richard Swift, Monade - Showbox - Seattle, Washington
SAT OCT 18 - W/Richard Swift, Monade - Wonder Ballroom - Portland, Oregon
SUN OCT 19 - W/Richard Swift, Monade - Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver, British Columbia
TUE OCT 21 - W/Richard Swift - Fillmore - San Francisco, California
WED OCT 22 - W/Monade - Fillmore - San Francisco, California
THU OCT 23 - W/Richard Swift, Monade - Henry Fonda Theatre - Los Angeles, California
FRI OCT 24 - W/Richard Swift, Monade - Belly Up Tavern - Solana Beach, California
FRI DEC 12 - The Pavilion - Cork, Eire
SAT DEC 13 - Tripod - Dublin, Eire
SUN DEC 14 - Black Box - Belfast, Northern Ireland
TUE DEC 16 - Oran Mor - Glasgow, Scotland
WED DEC 17 - Academy 3 - Manchester, England
THU DEC 18 - Concorde 2 - Brighton, England
FRI DEC 19 - Koko - London, England

I’ve been in a pretty mellow mood lately.  With The Dame in the middle of being demolished and no real leads on a new location it isn’t too difficult to get bummed out.  In times like these I’m often drawn to the pleasant melodies of indie pop.

Oh No! Oh My!’s tour date announcement today gives me the perfect excuse to feature a nice, happy tune for the dark times.

Oh No! Oh My! - Walk In The Park

I’ve not had the chance to see Oh No! Oh My! live and it looks like I won’t anytime soon.  They’re not coming to Lexington, and I’m not sure how road-worthy my old Volvo wagon is.  Can a car fall apart on the highway if it is rusty?

TOUR DATES

WED AUG 13 - Abbey Pub - Chicago, Illinois
THU AUG 14 - (This is where they should have contacted me and set up a show in Lexington)
FRI AUG 15 - Beachland Tavern - Cleveland, Ohio
SUN AUG 17 - Mercury Lounge - New York, New York
TUE AUG 19 - DC9 - Washington, D.C.
WED AUG 20 - Local 506 - Carrboro, North Carolina
THU AUG 21 - The End - Nashville, Tennessee
FRI AUG 22 - Barley’s - Knoxville, Tennessee
SAT AUG 23 - Hi-Tone - Memphis, Tennessee
MON AUG 25 - Drunken Unicorn - Atlanta, Georgia
TUE AUG 26 - 40 Watt - Atlanta, Georgia
THU AUG 28 - Walter’s 1H - Houston, Texas
FRI AUG 29 - Emo’s - Austin, Texas

Kind of a slow news day around here so I’m going to feature another group who I feel deserves a little more credit than they’re given…..The Sleepy Jackson.  I suppose I should say “he’s given” since the band is basically Luke Steele and whomever is performing with him at the time.  The story goes that Luke is difficult to work with, an egomaniac, and has gone through something like 27 different band members over the years.  I can’t vouch for all that; I’ve only hung out with the guy once at a party and he seemed perfectly pleasant to me.

His music is certainly derivative of a lot of 70’s AM pop, but it’s done in a way that isn’t simply a generic rehash.  Sure, that guitar riff is straight up George Harrison, but how many times have you heard a band pull that sound off so well?  Luke doesn’t half-ass the songwriting or production.  Everything is over the top, but not in a bad way.

I got to see them perform live at The Dame in Lexington, KY in 2004.  Great show, but sadly there were only a handful of people there, perhaps fifty at the most.  I suppose an Australian band touring a recently released debut album playing a small mid-west club shouldn’t expect more, but I still felt let down about the turnout.  I was the publicist of the club at that time and it was my responsibility to get folks in the door.  Sorry, guys!

As usual, I took in my fair share of free rum and coke at the show so details are blurry.  It was one of the few times I left my usual spot to go to the very front of the stage and rock out, though.  The band returned the favor by playing a surprisingly energetic set full of emotion and lots of feedback.  Small crowd be damned, they put on a hell of a show.

So far, The Sleepy Jackson has only released two full length albums, 2003’s Lovers and 2006’s Personality - One Was A Spider, One Was A Bird.  I imagine that it takes some time for Luke to get the tracks the way he wants them, so who knows when we will see another album.  In the meantime, Luke is doing a few solo dates across Australia.  Dates are below…

I’ll leave you with The Sleepy Jackson song that first got my attention.  I’m a huge George Harrison fan, so I was hooked after I heard that intro guitar….

The Sleepy Jackson - Good Dancers

TOUR DATES (LUKE STEELE SOLO)

TUE AUG 5 - Toff In Town - Melbourne, Victoria
WED AUG 6 - The Basement - Sydney, New South Wales
THU AUG 7 - The Brass Monkey - Cronulla, New South Wales
FRI AUG 8 - Sol Bar - Coolum, Queensland
SAT AUG 9 - Globe Theatre - Brisbane, Queensland
FRI AUG 15 - Devilles Pad - Perth, Western Australia

In a fair world, Bobby Conn would already be a star.  As it is, however, only a select few are in on the secret.  Well, it seems that an old video of his is making the rounds on the net and getting some attention…

I’ll let Bobby explain this for himself (taken from Bobby Conn’s myspace post…)

For all the people who have discovered me recently from the “Never Get Ahead” video currently posted on many blogs & You Tube, here’s some facts you make be interested in:

1.  The video is from an unrehearsed live appearance on “Chic-a-go-go” in 1997 or 1998 (ten years ago, shit!).  Chic-a-go-go is a brilliant children’s dance show on cable access here in Chicago; it’s sort of like American Bandstand or Soul Train but for little kids.  Every week there is a random collection of kids and parents dancing to pre-recorded tracks and usually there is a special guest from the independant music scene.  The guest can be local or touring acts, ranging from totally obscure noise bands to bigger acts.  There is no budget and no rehearsal; they usually shoot two or three episodes in about two hours.  The host is a punk rock rat puppet named Ratso and his lovely partner, currently Miss Mia Park.

2.  I was asked to do a tune, and as the song was “Never Get Ahead” I re-cut the vocals to remove references to fellatio.  It is a kid’s show, after all.  I recut the tune the night before and really didn’t have time to rehearse the lip sync.  I figured my sync would be terrible, but didn’t care too much about “fooling” people into thinking it was live.

3.  The original version of the tune is on my album “Bobby Conn” available through Atavistic/Truckstop Records.  I think it is on iTunes, Amazon, etc.  It’s my first album; please buy a copy as I haven’t seen any royalties from those people for a long time.  There is also a live version on my album “Live Classics, Vol. 1″ released on Thrill Jockey Records.  It is considerably more rocking than the original which may or may not be an improvement.

4.  This video clip was voted “Worst Video Ever” in a VH1 contest and has been broadcast in the UK and Europe pretty consistently for the past ten years.

5.  The video was shot at 10 AM on a Saturday morning; I was not “coked out of my brain” as many people have suggested.  If my performance seems exaggerated, well, perhaps you need to enjoy life a bit more.

6.  Micheal Jackson & Motown are a huge inspiration for me, and I’m not embaressed to admit it.  I’m not really ashamed of much, really.

7.  The woman in the blue dress is my friend Emily; you can see clips of her playing bass in another tune on YouTube, ”Passover”.  The woman in the plaid skirt is Monica BouBou; you can see her in most of my videos as she has played violin with me for over ten years and is my partner in crime.  I can guarantee any dude that is interested in Emily or anyone else in the video that they are not interested a scumbag like you.  Everyone else in the video, all the kids, etc. are just random people who showed up that day.  Obviously, many of them were confused by my antics.

8.  I am “for real.”  As in I am a real person.  Is my hair real in the video?  Is that a measure of my integrity?  These are all questions for you think about; but frankly, I am amazed at how much people seem to care about these things.  It’s a sign of progress that we have the time to debate such issues over the internet.  I guess that means that the larger issues confronting humanity have been pretty much taken care of.  Hallelujah!

9.  I have noticed that Americans have a harder time with sarcasm & irony that other cultures.  We find sarcasm threatening in some way; I, on the other hand, find the emphasis on the illusion of integrity to be more frightening.  The lyrics to the song both celebrate and mock political songwriting.  The concept of “the man” is a juvenile simplification of oppression.  But the impulse behind it is still valid.

10.  Finally, thanks for watching!  I am very proud of this video, as it captures almost everything I love in entertainment.  It is FUNNY, even ten years later!

So there you go, I guess.  Bobby Conn’s introduction to himself.  I can see how people could get the wrong idea about the guy from that one clip.  In fairness, then, I shall present a proper video for your pleasure.

To round things out, here’s Bobby in live mode.  I’ve probably seen thousands of shows over the past decade and Bobby Conn live in 2002 still stands out as one of my favorites.  Bobby has a way of bringing the show to you that I’ve not seen in any other performer.  The image of him swallowing my friend Claire in his gigantic bear paws is not one I’ll forget.  His violin player/wife, Monica BouBou, has these all-seeing eyes that seem to be staring at you no matter where you are in the room, like one of those freaky Jesus postcards.  To top it all off, there were a couple of metal dudes wailing away.  In 2002, before bands like The Darkness came along, long haired metal-heads were about the last thing you’d expect to see in an indie rock band.  I ended having an epic night with those dudes after the show; I remember some bar hopping and then a visit to a strip club where they seemingly blew a weeks worth of tour cash.

Gotta have an mp3 in here somewhere, I suppose.  I’ll leave you with “No Revolution” off of the 2002 release The Golden Age.

Bobby Conn - No Revolution - The Golden Age