Playing their first headlining gig in Chicago after an opening slot last fall at Lincoln Hall and a supporting role for Kings Of Leon at the House Of Blues in January 2009 (when they were still known as The Jakes), Young The Giant held court in a jam-packed room at Schubas.  Word is clearly out on these guys, as the “we’ll write your name down in case somebody doesn’t show up and then you can come in” list was several names in length at the door.

For a young band that has only been around for a handful of years, this group is honing their stage presence in a hurry.  They delivered their catchy, melodic indie rock much to the delight of mostly emphatic early-20’s girls, plus some industry types like myself wanting to get a peek at them.  Front man Sameer Gadhia is a rock star in the making, bellowing into two different microphones while flailing around a tambourine and rhythm shakers.

If you’ve yet to hear it, here’s the video for “My Body” performed at the San Francisco indie night Popscene:

And I shouldn’t fail to mention that the two opening acts impressed the hell out of me, as well.  Chicago’s own Moxie Motive do a fine horn and violin-tinged take on the ‘loud-quiet-loud’ trail blazed by the Pixies, and were terrific.  As well, Pomegranates from Cincinnati blew me away with instrumentation and moodiness that reminded me of both Interpol and The Chameleons, coupled with the melodies and energy of Franz Ferdinand, and vocals that are akin to Jónsi of Sigur Rós.

I couldn’t love Schubas more if I tried, but the lighting isn’t exactly a photographer’s dream, so I did what I could.  Enjoy.

Each night, the group featured three new songs from their upcoming record which not only sounded fantastic but also went over quite well with the packed sold out house. I attended the 2nd night armed with my camera, so enjoy the photo gallery below. Also of note, compared to other “play an entire album from start to finish” shows that I’ve been to where the band warmed up with other favorites before starting into Track 1 of the record in question, The Jayhawks came right out and ripped right into “Blue”, the lead track on ‘Tomorrow The Green Grass’.

This comes as a bit of a surprise I must say, as Jack White had been hinting late in 2010 that he and Meg White would be reconvening early this year. In a Vanity Fair interview, he had said “We thought we’d do a lot of things that we’d never done: a full tour of Canada, a documentary, coffee-table book, live album, a boxed set…Now that we’ve gotten a lot of that out of our system, Meg and I can get back in the studio and start fresh.”

Seemingly, we were to hear brand spanking new material from these two sometime in the near future. But today, the following statement showed up on the official White Stripes website, all at once applying the first and final nails to the coffin:

The White Stripes would like to announce that today, February 2nd, 2011,
their band has officially ended and will make no further new recordings or perform live.

The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any
health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health.

It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve What is beautiful and special about
the band and have it stay that way.

Meg and Jack want to thank every one of their fans and admirers for the incredible
support they have given throughout the 13 plus years of the White Stripes’ intense and
incredible career.

Third Man Records will continue to put out unreleased live and studio recordings from
The White Stripes in their Vault Subscription record club, as well as through regular
channels.

Both Meg and Jack hope this decision isn’t met with sorrow by their fans but that it is
seen as a positive move done out of respect for the art and music that the band has
created. It is also done with the utmost respect to those fans who’ve shared in those
creations, with their feelings considered greatly.

With that in mind the band have this to say:

“The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. The White Stripes belong
to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is
that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your
involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful.”

Sincerely,
Meg and Jack White
The White Stripes

One can only figure that Jack will continue on with any number of new projects or back some of the the groups he’s been involved with over the years such at The Raconteurs or The Dead Weather.  One new thing in the works that seems interesting is called Rome, for which both Jack and vocalist Norah Jones have been recruited by producer Danger Mouse.  As for Meg, well who knows.  It’s said that the anxiety issues she experienced in 2007 that forced the cancellation of tour dates are done and she’s in the clear from a health standpoint.  Perhaps she’ll continue on with her photography and amateur taxidermy (no, I’m not making that up).

We’ll miss you two.

“Fair enough” I thought, and figured the logical topics to talk to him about include the band’s upcoming show on Jan. 26^th at the United Center, and the fact that the band’s current record ‘A Thousand Suns’ threw just about every fan and critic for a loop.  This 4^th album sounds little like the previous three, foregoing their signature crunchy guitars in favor of more (and darker) electronics and percussion.

Any time a successful band declares that they’re making a “concept album”, their entire fan base seems to instantly anticipate the effort cautiously.  Such apprehension is well founded seeing that throughout rock history, concept albums have either been brilliant:  ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, The Beach Boys ‘Pet Sounds’, ‘Tommy’ from The Who, David Bowie ‘Ziggy Stardust’, ‘The Wall’ from Pink Floyd… or, downright deplorable:  Styx ‘Kilroy Was Here’, KISS ‘Music For The Elder’, Garth Brooks ‘The Life Of Chris Gaines’, or ‘Psychoderelict’ by–ironically, the same man who also wrote ‘Tommy’–Pete Townshend.

During our chat, front man Chester Bennington mentioned to me that they certainly didn’t aim for ‘A Thousand Suns’ to at all be a rock opera, and instead wanted it to be more like their ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ moment.  The goal was a cohesive piece of music designed to be listened to all at once, in order (not on shuffle), from start to finish.

Interview with Chester Bennington of Linkin Park:

It would appear that the experiment worked, considering the album debuted at #1 in America and #2 in the UK, as well as hitting #1 in Canada and a handful of other countries.  Seems that even the fans who were at first dissenters, eventually came around.

5+ years have passed since the release of their utterly brilliant release ‘Sing Along With Acid House Kings’, which Allmusic itself claimed to be “one of the best releases, indie or not, of 2005”.  At the time, I thought for sure that this Stockholm group was poised to take over North America as the front runner of the sun-shiny indie pop genre.  Take some Belle & Sebastian, add a bit of The Cardigans, and toss in plenty of Scandinavian quirkiness, and you’ve got a formula for simply irresistible catchy pop music.

And then they went silent.

But finally, their 3^rd full length album will be released on March 22^nd entitled ‘Music Sounds Better With You’.

Now, it’s not as if they’ve been sitting on their rumps for half of a decade.  Instead, they actually began recording the album in 2008 and within three months had half of it done.  But being the perfectionists that they are, all of that progress was scrapped citing that an uncertainty that this new collection of songs would be better than ‘Sing Along With Acid House Kings’ and considered them to be both too dark and not melodic enough.

In a recent interview, band member Johan Angergård said “We’ve allowed ourselves to be extremely self-critical. Songs good enough for any of our other albums have been discarded repeatedly.”

They stepped away from it, worked on side projects, and gave it another go in early 2010.  And we’ve got our first taste of it at last:

Acid House Kings – “Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends”

With so much time in the making plus a complete do-over, our ears are in for a treat if  ‘Music Sounds Better With You’ can even marginally be better than ‘Sing Along With Acid House Kings’ which boasts these gems:

So, who the hell are they?

The band is called Pomplamoose.

Now, before you write them off as a flash in the pan sensation, have a listen to some of their stuff.  The multi-instrumentalist indie duo consisting of Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn (real name Natalie Dawn Knutsen) come from the Bay Area of California, and formed just a couple of years ago.
Dawn moved from the West Coast to France at the age of ten, spent some time in Belgium and returned Stateside to study.  Conte’s pedigree comes from his musical family and cites the likes of Danny Elfman, Björk and Chopin as influences.  Both Dawn and Conte do plenty of work on their own outside of Pomplamoose, and it appears as if both can play just about any sort of instrument.
Their repertoire consists of one 8-song digital-only “album” called ‘Pomplamoose Video Songs’ released in 2009, a year-old small set enthusiastically entitled ‘3 New Songs, Woot!’ as well as ‘Tribute To Famous People’ which came out in March 2010.  The latter is what has helped put Pomplamoose on the map, illustrated by the inclusion of their take on The Chordettes 1954 hit “Mr. Sandman” on the Mad Men-styled Toyota Avalon commercial.  The collection features 10 covers spanning any era and style of music including showtunes (“My Favorite Things”), 80’s (“Beat It”), and contemporary pop (“Single Ladies” and “Telephone”).

But for me, the most interesting thing about Pomplamoose is how well they are forging a workable (and presumably profitable) business model for their music.  They are the perfect example of how long gone the days are of playing gigs, catching the ear of an A&R guy, getting signed, recording albums and going on tour and becoming rock stars.   It just doesn’t work that way anymore.  Musicians no longer only come up with brilliant songs, but they have to now be their own clever businesspeople, as well.
Pomplamoose’s first album is called ‘Video Songs’ because that is the term they use for how they capture and present their music.  Instead of making a traditional record, they make a video that essentially shows them playing the song.  What you’re hearing being played, is also what you’re seeing being played.  Just hop onto their Youtube channel and you’ll find all of it.  They’re considered “internet musicians” because everything they record is for online consumption, and they actually rarely play live gigs.
However, after this Christmas season they might need to reconsider their approach as I’m sure the demand for a tour will present itself.  But who knows, since Nataly still scoffs at the idea of making music a full-time endeavor.   They might just prefer to go on feeding us with new delights straight from their studio and never bother with the professional music rigmarole.
If you really loved the Hyundai commercials, their Christmas album that features all of those songs is available, but not for sale.  You get it if you donate a book to their local library, and this hilarious video has the duo themselves instructing you how to do so.  And interestingly enough, the Hyundai folks who converted the duo’s garage into a full-on production facility to shoot the spots, gave them full creative control and a final say in the finished pieces.  All other Pomplamoose music is available here, and as much fun as the covers are, you’ve got to check out their originals as well:

R.E.M.

‘Collapse Into Now’ will be the band’s fifteenth studio album and its expected release is March 8^th.  It was recorded in three different stages, in three different cities: Berlin, New Orleans, and Nashville.

Guests include the legendary Patti Smith, also Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, Peaches, Joel Gibb from The Hidden Cameras, and more.

Here’s the first track they’ve made available:

R.E.M. – “Discoverer”

You can download it for free right here…just know that doing so means that you’ll be signed up for the R.E.M. email list.

As well, you can hear a 2^nd track called “It Happened Today” which is streaming here.

Track list of ‘Collapse Into Now’:

1)  “Discoverer”

2)  “All The Best”

3)  “Überlin”

4)  “Oh My Heart”

5)  “It Happened Today” (feat. Eddie Vedder & Joel Gibb)

6)  “Every Day Is Yours To Win”

7)  “Mine Smell Like Honey”

8)  “Walk It Back”

9)  “Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter” (feat. Peaches & Lenny Kaye)

10) “That Someone Is You”

11) “Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I”

12) “Blue” (feat. Patti Smith)

And for old time’s sake, as a monumental band in the history of alternative music, let’s dip back to two of their classics and my personal favorites (from back when Michael Stipe still had hair, lots of it):

Of course, it’s not really a Christmas tune in the traditional sense, but it at least takes place during Christmastime, and that’s been good enough to make it a favorite and arguably the most successful holiday-inspired song in the modern era of music.

“Fairytale Of New York” was recorded for and appears on The Pogues’ 1987 release ‘If I Should Fall From Grace With God’, the Irish-bred and London-based group’s 3^rd album.

Besides the fact that the normally gruff, belligerent and incomprehensible vocals of Shane MacGowan are remarkably clean yet no less passionate on this track, the true beauty behind the effort is the guest vocals of the late British singer Kirsty MacColl.  Her spot-on delivery dueting with MacGowan in the call and response style of dialog are the very reason that the song has resonated for so many years, but her inclusion was practically an accident.

The part was originally meant for bassist Cait O’Riordan, who had just prior married Elvis Costello and left the band before the song was completed.  Enter the album’s producer, the notable Steve Lillywhite.  Steve has produced everyone from U2, The Smiths and Crowded House to more recently Dave Matthews Band and 30 Seconds To Mars.  He brought in his then-wife (the UK-charting vocalist MacColl) to record nothing more than a guiding female vocal for the demo version of the track.  To say that Kirsty nailed it is an understatement.  The band fell in love with her voice (much like millions of listeners would soon do), and she was officially brought on to do the song.

Besides the instant sing-along characteristics of the vocal hook “..and the bells were ringing out on Christmas Day..”, the dialog between MacGowan and MacColl is a venom-filled banter between two young Irish immigrants who come to New York to find prosperity, but instead are met with drug addiction, booze and hard times.

At the time of release, it was a #1 song in Ireland, #2 in the UK (it was beat out that year by the Pet Shop Boys cover of “Always On My Mind”).   It was then a Top 40 single again upon its re-release in 1991, it hit the Top 5 in the UK and Ireland again in 2005, became a UK Top 10 in 2006, a Top 5 again in 2006, a Top 15 in 2008 and 2009, and a Top 20 single this year. So you see, it never really goes away and finds new life every year during the season, with new generations of fans getting turned onto it every Christmastime.

And one of the charms of the song has always been its video.  Though the line “..the boys of the NYPD Choir were singing ‘Galway Bay’..” is twice sung, the New York Police Department indeed has no choir.  They do, though, boast their Pipe & Drum core which was enlisted to appear in the video.  They didn’t actually know how to play the Irish traditional tune “Galway Bay”, so they simply performed something else and the footage was slowed down to make it appear as if they were playing in time.  Also notice the cameo by Matt Dillon as the police officer wrangling MacGowan into the drunk tank.

I’m also including a few early demo versions of the song which appear on the The Pogues’ 2008 box set entitled ‘Look Them Straight In The Eye and Say…POGUE MAHONE!!’.  It’s quite interesting to see the progression of the song through its working stages to the classic that is the final version, which to this day still plays a major role in the musical facet of the holiday season.

Plus, don’t forget…we in North America are once again blessed with a brief Pogues tour coming up in March.  You’ll find all of the dates for the two week jaunt here on their website.  Seeing this band play live is monumental at worst, and it cannot be overstated that attending this time is crucial as it appears this could indeed be the end of the line for them, at least in this country.  After all, the tour is dubbed “A Parting Glass With The Pogues, USA March 2011”.  Do not miss it.  Enjoy, and Happy Holidays.

The Pogues – “Fairytale Of New York” (Demo 1, 1986)

The Pogues – “Fairytale Of New York” (Demo 2, 1986)

The Pogues – “Fairytale Of New York” (Demo 3, 1987)

Thanks to Chicago local music blog Chicago Verse United (CVU), here’s her new song “Kiss Kiss Kiss”, which is also the title-track of the mix arriving on 11^th January.

Kid Sister (who is actually the elder sister of Josh Young aka “J2K” of Chicago dj duo Flosstradamus) made her mark MC’ing at Flosstradamus dance parties around town, providing on-the-spot freestyling. Then when Kanye West took notice of her and wanted to collaborate on her single “Pro Nails”, things were off and running.

Kid Sister: “Kiss Kiss Kiss”

This new track further illustrates her ability to bind various styles together, where it’s not exactly rap or hip-hop, not exactly house…but impossible to sit still to, that’s for sure.

The mixtape will be released by Fool’s Gold, founded by Chicago’s DJ A-Trak. The label is beginning to set itself up as a real player in dance music, thanks in part to the craze spawned by the track “Barbara Streisand” from the Duck Sauce (of which A-Trak is one half).

Having recently completed her European fall tour and considering the upcoming release, I think we can expect Kid Sister to be announcing a new North American tour soon.

Kid Sister w/ Kanye West:  “Pro Nails”

Duck Sauce: “Barbara Streisand”